Wineries want Govt to run retail liquor trade

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Wineries and Distilleries Association has urged the state government to sell liquor through government outlets to avoid formation of syndicates which breed undesirable trends like selling liquor at a price more than the MRP.Association president Niranjanlal Agarwal, organising secretary M Rajeswara Rao and consultant B.Purnaiah told mediapersons here on Friday that there were many loop holes in the present excise policy.They urged the government to consider the policy being successfully adopted for the last 25 years in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and New Delhi where the state governments were selling liquor through outlets and earning profits. They said liquor sale was more in Tamil Nadu than in AP. In Tamil Nadu 44 lakh cases of liquor are sold a year while the figure  is 34 lakh cases in Andhra Pradesh.They said the state government was earning a revenue of Rs 18,000 crore a year from liquor sale. If the government ran the retail outlets itself, it can earn Rs 7,500 crore additional revenue which can be spent on people's welfare.Explaining the benefits if the government runs liquor shops, they said people would get liquor at cheaper price, liquor sales would go up as a result of which the government would earn more and the industry would  prosper, syndicate system could be eradicated, irregularities and bribes checked, belt shops closed and quality liquor made available to consumers.“There are 350 excise police stations and about 6,600 retail shops across the state. Each station can monitor 20 retail shops and check if liquor is being sold at MRP. For this closed-circuit cameras can be installed in shops. Alternatively, 50 to 100 retail shops can be allotted to a `business processing organisations' (BPO) area-wise by taking huge amount as deposit. The BPO expenditure will not exceed 5 to 7 percent.'' They made these suggestions in a representation submitted to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and other ministers.CPI dharna: Meanwhile, CPI activists staged a dharna in front of the excise commissioner's office, demanding the government run retail shops and provide employment to graduates at the outlets.Party state secretariat member K Ramakrishna and Greater Hyderabad party secretary VS Bose said the government should scrap the present auction system and reveal the names of the fraudsters, figured in the ACB reports. They also demanded action against leaders involved in the liquor scam. They submitted a memorandum to the excise commissioner.