THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as liquor sales came down by nine per cent due to the liquor policy of the previous UDF government, sale of beer has increased by 61 per cent, according to excise minister T.P. Ramakrishnan. In a written reply in the Assembly on Friday, the minister said the figures vindicate that the previous government's plan to bring down liquor availability was not effective.
Moreover, the sale and abuse of banned drugs and other narcotic substances in the state had also gone up after the closure of bars serving liquor. While the Kerala State Beverages corporation sold 240.67 lakh case liquor during 2013-14, by 2014-15 it came down to 220.58 lakh cases, an eight per cent decline. By 2015-16, the rate of decline increased to nine per cent.
However, sale of beer, during 2015-16 increased to 154.20 lakh cases compared to 96.59 in 2014-15, an increase of 61 per cent, the minister informed the house. The number of drug related cases registered by the excise also increased to 1,704 in 2015-16 when compared to 860 in 2013-14 and 1,021 in 2014-15, he said.
