Jharkhand to again privatise liquor shops to increase revenue

Ranchi, Feb 23: The Jharkhand government has decided to again hand over liquor sale to private parties and increase the number of shops to 1,664 in a bid to boost revenue.

The decision was taken as the state government failed to get the desired revenue after it took over the retail liquor trade in the state in 2017.

"The application for shop allocations to private parties through lottery has been started from Saturday. The application will be invited till March 4 and from March 5 lottery will start," an Excise Department official told IANS. 

The government plans to open 1,664 liquor shops, out of which 718 will be Indian made foreign liquor, 565 of country-made liquor and rest will be composite shops, the official said.

The Jharkhand government had generated revenue of Rs 957 crore during 2016-17 financial year which decreased to Rs 846 crore during 2017-18 when it started selling liquor. 

In the current financial year till January 2019, it has earned Rs 713 crore against a target of Rs 1,200 crore till March 31.