Liquor sales in the state are expected to go up to Rs 12,000 crore this financial year
The bi-annual auctioning of liquor shops in the state has brought some cheer to the cash-strapped Rosaiah government.
According to commissioner of excise and prohibition Heeralal Samaria, the government has so far received Rs 6,904 crore from auctioning of 6,505 liquor shops. The bids for the remaining 96 shops, which are yet to be finalised, are expected to fetch an additional Rs 50 crore taking the total to over Rs 6,950 crore.
This is much in excess of the initial estimate of Rs 4,500 crore and 118 per cent more than Rs 3,182 crore received by the government from a similar excise two years ago.
The government has fixed an upset price of 15 per cent more than the licence fee paid by the liquor traders for the 2008-10 period. However, in many places the bids received have been more than 100 per cent than the upset price indicating that liquor trade is on a high in the state.
The highest bid of Rs 5.21 crore had been for a shop at Nadikudi in Guntur district. This is Rs 3.51 crore more than what was paid by the trader as licence fee two years ago.
Similarly, another shop fetched the government Rs 4.93 crore.
A total 48,000 bids were stated have received for the 6,596 liquor shops spread across the state. The government has earned Rs 48.6 crore from applications fee alone.
Liquor sales in the state have doubled in the last five years from Rs 5,363 crore in 2005-06 to about Rs 11,000 crore in 2009-10.
The sales are expected to go up to Rs 12,000 crore in the current financial year.
Meanwhile, a petition was filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court by one Narayana from Nizamabad seeking imposition of prohibition in the state.
The high court admitted the petition and issued notices to state and Central governments.
