The Andhra Pradesh government today decided to reduce the total number of wine shops located in its limits as part of its policy to introduce a phase-wise ban on liquor consumption.
It issued orders reducing the total number of the wine shops by 33%.
With this, the total number of the wine shops will come down from 4,380 to 2,934 in the state.
The state government had already brought down the number by 20% earlier.
In its orders, the government said that the wine shops which had been eliminated would be closed down by the end of the ongoing month.
The state government has also removed 43,000 belt shops and 40% of the bars in the state.
The government has also changed the timings of the liquor shops. Liquor shops will now be allowed to stay open from 11 am in the morning till 8 pm in the evening.