( The deadline given for the state excise department to clear all the belt shops was given as 2nd November 2008, as per the latest orders of CM.)
Mr.Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, has issued orders to close down all the belt shops within the next 1 month. He has been blind to their existence for the past 4 years, and he just realized it just before the election. May be Congress will take up the personal responsibility of the distribution of liquor in the villages, and even that might go free!
There were over a lakh of belt shops in AP, in over 28000 village panchayats. They might be many shops which illegally exist apart from this. Clearly, the liquor fills the treasury immensely, as compared to any other commodity. No Government would like to miss that income, unless they are really keen in getting the alcohol away from the people.
When asked by Oppositions on why this sudden decision, Mr.Chief minister escapes saying that all these shops were strted in Telugu Desam reign. I really don’t understand how it can be an answer. Congress stops program of ‘Deepam’ and ‘Janmabhoomi’ with immediate effect when they came to power, even though these programs had a good reputation among the people. But, ‘forgets’ to worry about Belt shops as if they don’t have any right to stop it.
(Courtesy: Eenadu dated: 5th Oct, 2008)
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2 comments:
I dont think income from excise duty on alcohol is the main reason for being mum on booze shops. Liquor industry is worth about 2000 crore in India. There are other better and non controversial incomes streams. And in any case , our Governments have had a strong track record of being myopic about trivial things(for them) like income generation etc.
I guess the most important reason for thriving booze shops is the present auction system. They are not letting market forces decide the number of booze shops per area. They are artificially controlling them , randomly deciding on some number of shops per area without proper previous study. And as is common knowledge, only chelas of political bigwigs get the licenses. So a booze shop is kind of like a gift from our Neta to his "sincere" supporters.
This is my understanding of the process. As soon as the elections are over, the neta gives the licenses as promised to his supporters. But once the next elections come by,they ban all the belt shops cuz they have political mileage to gain , esp among female voters. Once elections are over, the process repeats itself. Money has not much to do with it. Nor the name of the party .
Firstly, I am reminded of the Napoleon's words where he says, "Vices are very good patriots; the love of brandy brought millions of francs every year, while no virtue has contributed so generously to the public exchequer". Alcohol is such in our India too (unfortunately).
I am not sure how you have got that 2000 Crore number. Let me give some facts. Excise tax (levied on tobacco, alcohol and gambling), is one of the largest single source of income for the state governments. Taxes and duties form about 50,000 Crore income in the annual budget of the State Govt. of AP, in which about 5,000 Crore is contributed by Excise taxes. A recent increase of 10-15% tax on IMFL is now expected to contribute an additional 500 Crore rupees to this income. It only means that Govt. is supposed to run on 5500 Crore deficit. So, money from this plays a role, infact a significant role. Ofcourse, I admit that, "There are other better and non controversial incomes streams."
About the distribution of licences to the liquor shops, yes, I also agree that they are generally distributed among their henchmen. But, let me remind you, its almost the same with the other licences also.
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