Andhra govt says liquor consumption dipped by 27% in a year, credits new excise policy
The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday claimed that the sale of liquor had fallen drastically since the YSRCP took charge in May, adding that it was going ahead with its plan of achieving total prohibition in the state.
Speaking to reporters, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Prohibition and Commercial Taxes K Narayana Swamy compared figures of liquor sales from October 2018 and 2019, and said that the numbers showed a 27% decline
The Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL), which has taken over the retail of liquor in the state, said that 23 lakh cases of liquor were sold in October 2019, compared to 32 lakh cases in the same month last year, which is a 27% decline.
As far as the sale of beer was concerned, the numbers reduced to 10 lakh cases in October 2019, compared to 23 lakh in 2018, a sharp decline of 56.4%.
The Minister claimed that this was a result of the new excise policy brought in by the YSRCP government.
It was on October 1 that the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh took over all 3,500 liquor shops in the state.
Total prohibition was one of the major promises made by YSRCP during its election campaign. The government plans to implement this in a phased manner and ultimately confine the sale of liquor to only five-star hotels.
The government claims to have reduced the number of liquor outlets in the state from 4,580 to 3,450 and hopes that a reduction of 20% per year will bring in total prohibition by the end of their five-year tenure.
Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had earlier too declared a crackdown on 'belt shops' which were the illegal extensions of the licensed liquor shops.
Read: