At a time when the entire country was learning to cope with the pandemic, Telangana has recorded a whopping income for the state exchequer. A reply to an RTI query has revealed that the Telangana government accrued Rs 7,907.88 crore from April to August through liquor sales by the Telangana State Beverages Corporation Limited.
To understand the magnitude of the money accrued during the period it is important to note that the revenue generated from April to August in 2020 is more than the total revenue generated in the year 2014 to 2015 which stood at Rs 6,095.03 crore.
The first question that would come to your mind would possibly be how is this even possible when liquor stores were closed for around 45 days, from the last week of March until early May as part of the country wide lockdown. The answer to this is that the Telangana government had increased the prices of liquor by 16% on existing rates. For cheaper brands, the prices were only increased by 11%. Clearly, the high prices did not dampen the spirits of tipplers who had to stand in long serpentine queues to get their hands on alcohol.
The RTI query was filed by activist Sudheer Jalagam, and it also revealed details about the revenues earned through liquor sales in the last couple of years. The figures stood at Rs 8,753.43 crore in 2015-16, Rs 9,024.43 crore in 2016-17, Rs 8,534.48 crore in 2017-18, Rs 10,283.63 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 14,566.74 crore in 2019-20. The figures also revealed how the revenues generated have exponentially gone up every successive year.
The RTI reply also revealed that no deaths were reported due to consumption of illicit liquor in Telangana from 2014 onwards.