In order to raise the volume of revenue collected in the form of excise tax in Dehradun district, a total of 12 composite liquor shops will be opened by the district excise department for the year from June 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018. Notably, the composite shops are the ones from where the traders would sell Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFl), Country Made liquor (CMl) and Beer together.
The Dehradun excise officer Manoj Upadhyay said on Friday that in the last financial year, 39 Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFl), 31 country-made liquor (CMl) and two Beer shops out of 72 liquor shops located in Dehradun district have the valid licenses to sell liquors. This year, 80 liquor shops would be allowed to run after they are awarded licenses through the lottery system.
In addition to opening eight new composite shops, four shops from the existing 72 liquor shops have been converted into composite liquor shops in the district, he said.
Around 400 applications have been received for 80 shops by noon on Friday and the number of such applications is expected to rise by the evening, Friday being the last day for sending application.
This year-2017-18 (June to March), the State Government has fixed an excise tax revenue target of `422 crores against `320 crore collected for the year 2017-18. Excise taxes on liquor shops have been increased too from the previous 25 to 45 per cent, depending on the previous records of sale at the shops.
In Dehradun district, as many as 38 liquor shops — 20 IMFl and 18 CMl shops- were located on national and State highways. However, the State Government had converted some of the State highways into district highways to spare them the hassle of relocation following the landmark Supreme Court order of shifting such shops from the outer edges of both types of highways.
The department has incurred a huge loss in the form of revenue excise tax (upto 75 per cent) in two months — April and May — with around half of the shops in the district remaining closed following protests of various organisations against the sale of liquors.