Hyderabad: The Excise Department of Andhra Pradesh has created a record. Without selling a glass of beer or a bottle of liquor, the department earned a massive Rs 624 crore through auction of liquor shops in 11 districts.
Out of this, sale of applications alone fetched Rs 260 crore. The remaining amount was through license fee, according to Kollu Ravindra, minister for excise who announced the new policy recently.
The auction of shops in the two remaining districts of Prakasam and Kurnool will take place shortly and if that is also added, the revenue would cross Rs 700 crore, according to an estimate.
The government has decided to invite applications for the 343 shops which did not receive even a single application.
Auction will be conducted again for these shops. “The government would operate a total of 434 shops and there will not be any short of stock there. We will take every step to run the shops in a transparent manner and without scope for irregularities. It is wrong to presume that we would sell maximum liquor through super bazaars and malls. They are very limited and sales will be negligible,” Mr Ravindra said.
Despite tall claims by the state government to prevent syndicates, liquor lobbies had their say and seized shops in the auction, a study by the excise department revealed.
“There were no new applicants and mostly present ones. They knew how to bag the contract and multiple applications were filed on a benami basis. The liquor lobby formed a ring and got a price of its own. Since it was a smooth affair, even excise department cannot do anything,” well placed sources told Deccan Chronicle.
An officer said that it is the proverbial new wine in the old bottle. Meanwhile, the government plans to sell liquor in tetra packs to curb adulteration, sources said.
As there is shortage of tetra packs, Andhra Pradesh has reportedly approached Karnataka to supply over a crore packs for packaging, it is learnt.
The government expects that sales through tetra packs will be nearly 40 per cent of the overall sales. Only branded liquor will be sold through it, it is learnt.
