Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday hinted at opening of pubs in the tourism-driven state. He said revamping  Kerala Beverages Corporation (Bevco) outlets with better facilities is also being considered by his government.

Pinarayi Vijayan, India's only communist Chief Minister, in his weekly television show said that complaints have reached him from IT professionals and workforce of other industries with late working hours about lack of entertainment hubs to relax after their shifts get over.

“What are those things called pump? Pubs? The lack of such pubs has become a major criticism that has been raised against us. The Kerala government is seriously looking into this," he said. 

Talking about Bevco, the government-owned liquor sale corporation, the CM said opening special outlets from where customers can select their product of choice without having to wait in long queues are being considered by the LDF government. The models followed by Tamil Nadu's TASMAC and Karnataka could be considered for this, he said.

Due to the previous Congress-led UDF government's anti-liquor policy, as many as 700 hotels had lost their license as only 5-star hotels were allowed to serve liquor. However, in 2017, the current government reversed this stringent liquor policy, allowing 4-star hotels to serve Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and 2-star hotels to serve wine and beer. 

The anti-liquor policy had hit revenue generation in Kerala, a tourism-dependent state. Before the ban was enforced, the state had India's highest per capita alcohol consumption, at more than eight litres per person per year.