Liquor consumption down: CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy asked the officials to ensure that ganja and other such substances should be out of bounds to students and youth. Special Enforcement Bureau numbers should be displayed before all colleges and universities and there should be no reports of drug abuse, he said adding that collectors should coordinate.

He held a review on revenue generating departments, including excise, mines and panchayat raj, at the camp office on Thursday.

The Chief Minister noted that liquor consumption has come down due to steep hike in prices and shutting down of belt shops. Those who are into brewing of illicit liquor and cultivating ganja should be shown alternative source of employment and self-employment should be encouraged, he said.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that consumption of alcohol had come down from 384.31 lakh cases in 2018-19 to 278.5 lakh cases in 2021-22. The sales of beer for the same period have come down from 277.10 lakh cases to 82.6 lakh cases. The revenue has gone up from Rs 20,128 crore to Rs 25,023 crores for the same period due to steep hike in prices.

In all, 20,127 cases were registered, 16,027 were arrested and 1,407 vehicles were seized related to illicit liquor. In 2,500 acre where ganja was used to be cultivated, people shifted other crops while steps are being taken for horticulture in another 1,600 acres, the officials said.

The Chief Minister said that ACB tollfree number 14400 should be displayed in all government offices. These boards should be on display from village secretariat to collector's office, from police station to SP office and at PDS shops as well, he said.

Sub-registrar offices should be revamped so should be the passport offices.

Taking district as a unit, the collectors should ensure that mining operations are carried out after acquiring the necessary permissions and amicably settle if there are any disputes so that there is no loss of revenue, he said.

There should be transparency in the sale of red sanders, he said, for which the officials revealed that plans are afoot for sale of 2,640 metric tonne between October this year and March next year.

Deputy Chief Minister K Narayanaswamy, ministers Dharmana Prasada Rao, Peddireddi Ramchandra Reddy, P Viswaroop, chief secretary Sameer Sharma, DGP K V Ravindernath Reddy, environment special CS Neerab Kumar, MAUD special CS Y Srilakshmi, excise, stamps and registrations special CS Rajath Bharghav, panchayat raj, rural development CS Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, transport department CS MT Krishna Babu, home department CS Harish Kumar, finance secretary Gulzar, APCRDA commissioner Vivek Yadav and other officials were present.