Hyderabad: Here is some bad news for all year-end and New Year revellers as also regular alcohol consumers. Drinking liquor will get costlier from Wednesday as prices are being revised.
The government has increased prices of all varieties of liquor and beer significantly. With an average increase of about 15 per cent, the cost of liquor will be more by anything from Rs 20 to Rs 80, depending on the quantity and brand. The price of beer will be up by Rs 10 to Rs 20.
Excise Commissioner and Special Chief Secr-etary (revenue) Somesh Kumar on Monday iss-ued orders to this effect. This revision is expected to fetch additional revenue of around Rs 500 crore.
Mr Kumar held a video conference with district excise officials and briefed them on the price hike and the procedure to follow. The TS Beverages Corporation will not issue any stocks to dealers on Tuesday. IML and beer will be issued only after certification by the concerned station house officer (SHO) that stocks of such brands have been exhausted in the shop/bar/club. He said that the SHOs should convey a strong message to all liquor dealers that they must sell old liquor only at old rates. He said that the SHOs shall be held responsible for any violation or if they issue false certification with regard to stock. He said that bar excise tax as well as shop excise tax along with special excise tax of `5 lakh shall be completed by December 20. If anybody shows signs of defaults on payment, their bank guarantee shall be encashed without waiting for the deadline. Mr Kumar said that the stock of a particular brand with new rates shall be delivered only after the outlets and bars have cleared existing stock.
According to officials, the Beverages Corpor-ation has stock worth `300 crore to `400 crore with it. The government has increased prices of brands which sell more than foreign liquor.
