Madhya Pradesh government hikes liquor price by 10%

BHOPAL: In a desperate move to resolve the standoff with liquor traders, the state government on Sunday hiked the liquor price by 10% to compensate the loss to the traders. Traders had been defying government diktat to open liquor shops in the cities of the state and were demanding a cut in excise duty in wake of poor sales.
Excise commissioner Rajeev Chandra Dube told TOI, “the liquor traders talked about decline in the volume of the sale of liquor, This hike will compensate it.” He said that the liquor price was increased with immediate effect through a “gazette notification” issued on Sunday.
But the association of the liquor traders of the state termed it “a cosmetic step” and said this would not serve the purpose.
The liquor business is hit by the coronavirus induced lockdown in the state. With almost Rs 13,000 crore excise duty at stake, the cash-starved government ordered the traders to start the shops. After the traders were “ forced” to open the shops on May 5, the liquor business never picked up after the initial euphoria. On May 19, the government also ordered to open the shops outside the municipal limits of Indore and Bhopal among other cities under red zone of the pandemic. But the traders defied the orders.
On May 23, the government in a carrotand stick policy announced to offer some “rebates” including reduction of dry days from 4 to 3 days at some places. Later, seeing the defiance of the traders the government in a veiled threat talked about penal action against the traders including termination of licence and blacklisting besides recovery of government guarantee.
The traders meanwhile is contemplating on keeping their establishment across the state closed on May 26 and 27 as a mark of protest. The government doesn’t seem to understand the root cause, said the liquor traders’ association, adding, “It is just taking cosmetic steps .”
The sales went down by almost 60% as the paying capacity of the labour class was affected badly by the lockdown and joblessness. Instead of sales picking up after tyhe prolonged lockdown, it went down badly, said the association. Labourers and lower income group form the major chunk of the customers, said the association.
We want the government to make the figures of the ware house liquor supply public as they (excise department personnel) are supplying the liquor sold by us from the government controlled warehouses every day. The consumption so far this year only can be compared with that a decade ago”, said Rahul Jaiswal, spokesman of the association while talking to the TOI. “ We just want 25% reduction in annual the excise duty which was enhanced this financial year. We committed 25 % extra before March 31 when the coronavirus crisis was not in the picture while estimating the sales figures.”