Liquor has been the most talked topic since the past one month! From banning liquor to raising liquor prices in Punjab, the Tri-City people have been discussing liquor. The Chandigarh Administration decided to retain most of the liquor vends by declaring all the V1 roads (Fast roads connecting Chandigarh to other towns), V2 roads (Arterial Roads) and V3 Roads (Fast Vehicular Sector Dividing Roads) as major district roads from state highways.
Liquor Will Be More Expensive In Punjab
Liquor prices in Punjab are set to go up from April 1, 2017. The country-made liquor will be going up by Rs. 10 to Rs. 15. The IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) will get costlier by Rs. 30 to Rs. 40. As per the 2017-18 excise policy, the prices have been raised in order to check the loss of revenue. Around 484 liquor vends shut down after Supreme Court ordered to ban the operation of liquor vends within 500m from National and State Highways.
The quota of country-made has been reduced by 14% from 10.10cr proof liters to 8.70cr proof liters. The quota of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) has also been reduced by 20% from 4.73cr proof liters to 3.80cr proof liters.
New Excise Policy
The amendments made in the excise policy:
- L1A license has been abolished
- L-1 License would only be granted in a concerned district to an L-2 Licensee (Retail Licensee)
As per source in Excise Department, contractors were not able to sell much liquor and they faced losses due to a higher quota. It is expected that consumption of liquor would go down by cutting the quota.
The liquor contractors are not all happy with the decision of liquor price hike in Punjab. The liquor contractors said that were already being charged Rs. 10 on each bottle. The Rs. 10 tax on each bottle included cow cess, atta-daal tax and education cess.
Looking at the amendments, it seems like buying and having liquor would be an uphill battle in the coming years!
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