Govt to promote Neera, keep an eye on markets

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government has decided to promote the drink called Neera in the state keeping in mind the response of the market to the beverage produced by the Karnataka and Kerala governments.

Neera is a sap extracted from the various species of toddy palms and also coconut trees. People believe it is one of the healthiest non-alcoholic drinks and also a good summer drink.

Karnataka and Kerala have been producing the Coconut Neera and it is available for online sale. Several private players have also set up industries to produce Neera in both the states. The Telangana government has been focussing on setting up a Neera industry in the state to encourage the toddy tappers’ community and to get better revenue.

In a recent meeting at the Telangana Bhavan, TRS working president KT Rama Rao said that the state government was taking steps to promote Neera.

During the Budget session in 2017, the then minister for Excise and Prohibition T. Padma Rao had announced on the floor of the Assembly that on behalf of the state government, an official team would visit Sri Lanka and Cambodia to study the production of Neera and its consumption.

Somesh Kumar, Principal Secretary for Prohibition and Excise said that due to the elections, they could not take any policy decision with regard to promoting Neera in the state.

He explained that they had already collected some inputs from other states and also some other countries which were producing Neera and they were preparing an action plan to promote the production of Neera.