Jharkhand government to take over wholesale, retail sale of liquor

The State Cabinet on March 30 approved four major amendments in the excise policy related to rules of wholesale and retail sale of liquor and other related cases

“The Jharkhand government is all set to take over the wholesale and retail sale of liquor in a bid to push revenue collection to ₹3,000 crore annually from the current ₹1,800 crore in three years,” an official said.

The State Cabinet on March 30 approved four major amendments in the excise policy related to rules of wholesale and retail sale of liquor and other related cases. The State Excise and Prohibitions Department has earlier roped in an agency to prepare a roadmap to boost the sale of liquor.

State Excise Secretary Vinay Kumar Choubey claimed that the amendments will help check illegal sale of liquor and also the overpricing complaints. “Now, instead of 75 godowns, there will be five godowns in five divisions of the State, which will be under the control of JSBCL (Jharkhand State Beverage Corporation Limited) and operated by a private agency,” Mr. Choubey said.

The number of retail shops will be increased to 1,500 from the current 750. “These shops will be under the control of JSBCL. We will have placement agencies, which will give us quality manpower and they will also be made financially liable for any shortfall in revenue collection of the shops,” Mr. Choubey told PTI.

In a bid to deal with illegal sales and overpricing, quick response (QR) codes will be used. “Consumer can trace price, manufacturing and other important details through QR code in bottles. Now, the size of foreign-made and country-made liquor bottles will be the same and plastic bottles will not be used,” he said.

The Cabinet also approved the proposal of drafting guidelines for general cadre recruitment and other service conditions, besides labour service technical cadre. The proposal of including Kurmi and Mahto in the extremely backward class list also got the Cabinet nod, an official said.