How to Obtain a Permit to Buy Alcoholic Drinks in the Dry State of Gujarat, India

The Gujarat State is the only state in India that has still a ban on consuming alcoholic drinks. The local residents cannot get such alcoholic drinks from anywhere. However, there are some ways through which one can get the alcoholic drinks officially from the approved government sources. This can be done by obtaining suitable permit for buying alcoholic drinks in this dry State, which is issued by the State government officials. Such permits are issued to those who are visiting the State from outside and do not belong to this state. Many of our friends find it difficult to get such permit through the government sources even if they are visiting their home country from either USA or any other country due to ignorance of the laid out procedure to obtain such permit. I am going to cover procedure to obtain such permit for buying the alcoholic drinks in Gujarat State through the official sources for the persons visiting from abroad.

The first and the simplest procedure is to present your passport issued by the foreign country to the government officer. He will be able to issue such permit to you after checking your passport and confirming that you do not belong to Gujarat State and have come to Gujarat State for short duration of time. The charges for issue of such permit are around Rs.500 ($12) per person. You can arrange to buy one bottle of whisky of 750 Ml or 10 bottles of beer every week till you stay in Gujarat State. Such purchase of the alcoholic drinks can be carried out from the government approved shops, available in almost all the cities and towns of the Gujarat State by presenting the permit to the shop manager. Recently, such liquor shops also have been empowered to issue such permits after checking of all the documents that establish that the individual originally belongs to outside of Gujarat State.

Now comes the case of the people having Indian passport with them. They can be Indian citizens but residents of the USA, having green card issued by US government. Such persons can contact any of the authorized shops selling liquor. They need to present their boarding cards issued by the airlines while flying, green cards establishing their residency in the USA along with their Indian passport having the recent immigration endorsement. On checking all these documents, the shop manager can issue a permit for a period of maximum one month with the charges of Rs.200 per week per individual. This permit can entitle the individual for buying one unit of liquor every week. One unit would mean one full bottle of hard liquor like whisky or 10 bottles of beer. Such USA residents are issued such permit for the maximum period of one month only. However, one must obtain such permit within a maximum period of one week of their reaching to India. All such government liquor shops remain open from 10 am to 5 pm on all weekdays and remain closed on all Sundays and the government holidays. One can get such list of the approved shops from the leading hotels management of a particular city.

I have seen many of my friends visiting from the USA, buying the liquor from unauthorized sources at very high rates and that too not sure of the quality of such alcoholic drinks. Each of us must obtain such official permit for the liquor while visiting Gujarat State in case we need to have alcoholic drinks during our stay. I am quiet confident this article shall provide the required guidance to all my readers who may not be aware of the official procedure to get alcoholic drinks in the State of Gujarat.