Gurugram - the Millennium City, on an average, consumes over four lakh beer cans and nearly 1.24 lakh bottles of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and country liquor (CL) daily through authorised vends, according to Haryana government data.
And this figure does not include the liquor quota allotted to the armed forces personnel!
According to data compiled by the state Department of Excise & Taxation, Haryana has an annual quota of 53,108,852 proof litre for 2017-2018, which means 7,867,978 cases or 94,415,737 bottles.
Similarly, the state has sanctioned 89,656,412 proof litres of annual quota for countrymade liquor, which translates into 19,923,647 cases or 239,083,765 bottles.
Gurugram's allotted annual quota of IMFL is 8,115,000 proof litres and 7,410,00 proof litre, respectively, for the West and East zones.
Similarly, CL sanctioned quota is 4,290,000 and 2,210,000 litres for the respective zones.
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"Gurugram alone shares over 1.55 crore proof litre quota, the highest in Haryana, and if you add Faridabad's share of 8,600,000 proof litre, these two districts adjoining national capital Delhi consume more than 46.6 per cent IMFL in the state," an official said, adding that "Gurugram and Faridabad contribute nearly half of the total revenue earned through excise duty fee in the state".
Gurugram and Faridabad also top in proof litre quota allotment in the CL category in the state. Haryana has a total of 22 districts.
As per the figure, the consumption of liquor in Mewat (Meo or Muslim-dominated) district is the lowest in the state. On an average, just 3,100 bottles were being sold daily through authorised vends in the district.
The excise duty fee for the financial year 2017-18 was Rs 45 per proof litre.
"There was no fixed quota for the sale of beer. Till December 31, in Gurugram alone, 112,750,381 beer cans were sold in nine months, which works out to a little higher than 410,001 cans daily," he said.
Consumption of beer and its sale has gone much higher over a few years, though the figure for IMFL and CL remained almost the same.
In 2013, on an average, consumption in the Millennium City was more than 1.2 lakh bottles of IMFL and country liquor, and nearly 85,000 beer cans daily.
There was 1.34 crore proof litre quota of IMFL for the financial year 2013-14. The quota for country liquor for the same period was 62.4 lakh proof litre.
The proof litre quota of IMFL and CL for the financial year 2013-14 was same as it was for 2012-13
Both IMFL and country liquor may cost more in the state in the next financial year as the Haryana government is considering setting up a corporation for wholesale liquor trade and has invited suggestions from the public and various stakeholders for a new Excise Policy for 2018-2019.
--IANS
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