By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net
Lucknow: It may sound unrealistic, but liquor price is also an issue in UP politics. And it is only likely to gain importance in the coming days.
In the run-up to the 2012 assembly polls, Akhilesh Yadav who had then undertaken the election journey via his Kranti Rath, had remarked that ‘Shaam ki Dawai’ had become costlier during the Mayawati regime and it will be made cheaper. The announcement was well-received in the rallies.
And now with elections approaching, Samajwadi Party government is seriously planning to reduce the liquor prices in the state. Revenue from liquor is one of the major source of income for the state government.
Sources in government are of the opinion that there is a plan to reduce prices of country-made liquor in the state. There is a logical issue for reducing the prices. Last year, the state government had reduced tax on Indian Made Foreign Liquor by 25%. This made IMFL nearly equal to country-made liquor in price, which resulted in customers shifting from country-made liquor to IMFL. Thus, there was sharp decline in the sale of country-made liquor. The issue was raised by distilleries and even liquor association with the authorities. Now, for managing the issue it is planned to reduce the tax on country-made liquor further which will make it cheaper and thus improve its sale.
During the BSP regime, there were rampant complaints of over pricing of IMFL liquor. Every shopkeeper, it is alleged, used to charge up to 10-20 rupees extra. The SP government has held several meetings of high officials and issued instructions to ensure that over rating is not practiced in any part of the state.
As per records, state government has already declared excise policy for two years in 2016. It will be valid for 2016-17 and 2017-18 keeping elections in mind. The target for excise revenue for the year 2017-18 is Rs 20,745 crore while in 2016-17 it was Rs 19,250 crore.