Booze all set to have high price tag in city

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18

The cost of liquor in the city is likely to see a hike of 10 to 12 per cent.

The UT Administration will soon announce its excise policy for the next fiscal after getting it approved from the Administrator. 

The Excise and Taxation Department, UT, has prepared the new excise policy after examining the policies of Punjab and Haryana.

Sources said while the rates of liquor were likely to increase, these would still be lesser than those in the neighbouring states. Over the years, the UT Administration had been consistently increasing the rates of liquor but the spirit continues to cost less here than in Punjab and Haryana. 

Liquor prices were increased up to 10 per cent last year.

Officials of the UT Excise and Taxation Department held a series of the meetings to finalise the excise policy after the Punjab Government announced its new excise policy recently. Not only the reserve price of vends in the state was slashed, their quota was also cut. 

The UT Excise Department has no choice but to keep the rates lower than those prevailing in the neighbouring states to stop the smuggling of liquor from the city. 

A marginal increase in the excise duty on country liquor and Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) is also on the cards.

Even as Punjab lowered the price of liquor, still many brands continued to cost more there than in Chandigarh.

The UT Administration had earned over Rs 200 crore from auction of liquor vends last year. It hopes to earn more revenue from the auction this year as the Supreme Court has lifted the ban on vends situated on the roads within the MC limits.