Haryana: Liquor sales spiked during pandemic

HISAR: Even though people tried to strengthen their immunity during the Covid-19 pandemic, sale of alcohol increased. The government earned additional revenue of Rs 15.09 crore from Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad districts due to increase in liquor sales.
This information was given by joint excise and taxation commissioner Ashutosh Rajan during a meeting of excise officers and contractors from Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts at Hisar mini-secretariat.
Rajan said this year, additional quota of liquor has been raised in comparison to previous years and the government has also received additional excise duty.
In Hisar, additional quota of liquor was not raised in the year 2019-20 while 23.73 lakh PL (proof litre) has been raised so far in 2020-21, fetching additional revenue of Rs 8.42 crore for the government, he informed.
“In Fatehabad district, additional quota of liquor was not raised in 2019-20 but 9.11 lakh PL has been raised so far in 2020-21, which has fetched an additional Rs 2.87 crore in government revenue. Additional quota of liquor was not raised in 2019-20 in Sirsa district, while 12.33 lakh PL has so far been raised in 2020-21, generating an additional Rs 3.80 crore in government revenue. Total additional excise duty of the three districts is Rs 15.09 crore more than that of the previous years,” he informed.
During the meeting, Ashutosh Rajan instructed officials concerned to submit information of CCTV cameras installed in distilleries every week to the DETC office and send a report to headquarters every 15 days. He also sought suggestions from liquor contractors about the excise policy for 2021-22. Deputy excise and taxation commissioner Raj Kumar Singla from Hisar, V K Shastri from Fatehabad and Jitendra Kumar Radhav from Sirsa were also present on the occasion.