Haryana to levy 'Covid cess' on liquor; vends to open on Wednesday

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, May 5

Liquor vends in Haryana will open from tomorrow and the state will levy a "covid cess" on all liquor bottles sold in the state which will vary from Rs 5 to Rs 50.

At a meeting of the Haryana Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, it was decided that a cess of Rs 5 would be levied per qaurt of country made liquor and Rs 20 per quart on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). This is expected to bring in an additional revenue of Rs 400 crore. A  cess of Rs 5 on strong beer and Rs 2 on light beer will be levied. 

The cabinet also decided to open all liquor vends from tomorrow. These will be open from 7 am to 7 pm. However, vends located in the containment zones will remain closed. 

Following is the press statement issued by the government:

Haryana Cabinet, which met under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal today approved certain changes in the Excise Policy of the year 2020-21. That were necessitated due to outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic. It was decided that the Excise Policy of the State Government for the year 2020-21 shall come into force  with effect from May 6, 2020 and remain effective till May 19, 2021.

The amendments have been carried out with an objective to safeguard the government revenue and to mitigate the impact of outbreak of Pandemic on the operation of the licenses.

The validity period of the L-2, L-14 A and other concomitant licenses shall be upto May 19, 2021.  All the licensees shall operate their licenses at the same license fee at which these were allotted before the outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic. However, A Group of Ministers (GoM) has been constituted for redressal of grievances of the stakeholders which may come up during the operation of the licenses. A COVID Cess shall be levied on all types of liquor. The COVID Cess will be Rs. 5 per quart in case of Country Liquor, Rs. 20 per quart in case of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), Rs. 5 in case of strong Beer and Rs 2 in case of other Beer and Rs. 50 per pack greater than 375 ML in case of Imported Foreign Liquor (IFL).

The payment schedule for payment of security and license fee has been reworked so as to provide flexibility to the licensees in order to overcome the difficulty of prevailing cash crunch. To begin with the timings of the operation of liquor retail vends will be from 07:00 am to 07:00 pm both in Urban and Rural areas. No Anumat Kaksh shall be allowed.

The retail licensees shall operate strictly in accordance with the guidelines of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. No liquor vend shall be allowed to operate in the containment zones. Proportionate waiver of license fee and quota shall be given for such closures.  The retail licensees would have to ensure social distancing as defined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

No person shall be allowed to enter the business premises 10 minutes prior to the closing time of such retail outlets.  There will not be more than 5 persons at any time on the counter of any retail outlets.

The salesmen as well as the customers shall have to wear face masks. The licensee shall have to ensure proper cleanliness and sanitization. He will have to provide for adequate quantity of sanitizer at the sales counter.

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