State witnesses sharp rise in liquor sale

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 24

The state has witnessed a sharp increase in the sale of liquor over the past nearly 10 years.

Information obtained under the RTI Act revealed that in 2005-06, the state Excise and Taxation Department sold a total of 1,108.53 lakh bottles of the country liquor (CL) and 414.60 lakh bottles of the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The number increased to 2,671.23 and 1,021, respectively in 2014-15. Till January this year, it had touched the figure of 1,846.56 and 775.95, respectively.

Kamal Anand, a member of the People for Transparency, an NGO, who procured the information, said: In other words, we can say that 36.92 crore bottles of liquor were gulped by 1.67 crore Haryanavis during 2014-15.They also consumed additional 11.32 crore bottles of beer during the same period.”

The consumption of liquor in 2014-15 increased by 6 per cent as 34.42 crore bottles of liquor and 10.03 crore bottles of beer were consumed in the state in 2013-14, he said.

“The government is playing with the health of citizens by promoting consumption of liquor. No doubt, excise is a big source of income for the government, but the authorities are responsible for the health and welfare of the citizens. The state government should not focus on increasing its income from the sale of liquor,” said Anand.

Some khaps have expressed their concern over the rise in liquor consumption in the state. They have started a special campaign to spread awareness against the ill-effects of liquor in many areas of the state.

“The rise in the number of liquor vends in the state is increasing liquor addiction among youngsters and khaps are already running a special campaign against the increase in liquor vends. The state government should find alternative sources of income rather than promoting the sale of liquor to increase its income,” said Tek Ram Kandela, convener of the Sarv Khap Panchayat, Haryana.

The excise collection increased to Rs 3,774.85 crore in the state till February 2016 from Rs 1,107.09 crore in 2005-06.