- Ban will give birth to underground liquor mafias
- It will cause loss of Rs 800 Cr to state exchequer annually
Sheikh Saleem
Srinagar, Oct 14: The J&K government has told the High Court that it is impossible to impose ban on the sale of liquor in the state.
In a status report filled before the court, government said from time to time the country has tried to get its citizens to stop drinking liquor but this has encouraged bootlegging and spurious liquor.
“The total prohibition in the State shall prove counterproductive as it will result not in loss of revenue due to interstate smuggling of liquor but also may lead to manufacture of spurious liquor and consequent deaths of poor consumers,” it said.
The government further told the court that ban on liquor will lead to loss of near about Rs 800 crores to the state exchequer annually including Rs. 500 crore Excise Revenue collected by the Excise Department and sales tax under GST Act, 1962 besides Rs. 300 crores, collected by Commercial Taxes Department.
“The prohibition of liquor in the State is going to prove counter-productive and result in clandestine smuggling of liquor Into the State from other states of the country and illicit distillation and other similar situated mechanism, which in long run shall affect the health of citizens consuming liquor,” it said.
It said the ban will give birth to underground liquor mafias in the State, which shall lead anti-social and anti-national elements to resort to money laundering and Hawala type of transactions. “It will be detrimental to the State’s economy and security”.
Giving reasons for not banning the liquor in state, government said it may lead to loss of employment to at least 6000 persons involved in the trade at different levels including Licensees, Salesmen, Barmen, Mangers, Workforce in Bottling Plants/ Distilleries/ wholesale traders etc.
“It will also lead to loss to transporters as nearly 15000 vehicle perform freight work round the year in this trade,” added the government.