Govt on a high from liquor sales with 1L crore revenue in 5 years

Bengaluru: The Excise Department has earned huge revenue from liquor sales. In the last five years, money has flowed from the Excise Department to the government like a torrent, as per statistics released by the government.

Replying to the question of JD(S) member Govind Raj, Minister K Gopalaiah has answered by the end of January, the liquor sales figures between 2017-2023 have been published. A total of 3,494 lakh boxes of liquor were sold, generating a revenue of Rs 93,391 crore. In beer business, 1,399 lakh boxes were traded and revenue was 16,297 crores. According to the statistics, 4,893 lakh boxes of liquor and beer were sold and the government collected a total revenue of 1,09,688 crores.

Excise Minister Gopalaiah has clarified that the revised notification to reduce the age of sale and purchase of alcohol in the state from 21 to 18 years has received objections and the current rules will continue.

Answering a question from JDS member Govindaraju in the Legislative Council Q&A session, the minister said that a notification was issued on January 9 regarding the age limit for selling liquor. It was proposed to lower the age limit for purchasing liquor from 21 to 18. But there were many objections to this. Therefore, the committee has been formed and action has been taken to continue as it is now, he said.

Many places have taken strict action against the sale of illegal liquor in villages. The Excise Minister informed that the same effective action will be taken in future as well. This year the Department will cross the financial target set for the Excise Department. 'For the last 5 years we have consistently exceeded the target set for us. This time too the department did not fall behind in reaching the goal, the Minister said. He said that the department will take necessary steps to reach the target set .