Will drown Kerala in liquor: Congress slams Pinarayi govt’s new excise policy

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan government announced the new liquor policy for the present fiscal, the Congress-led opposition termed it a "bluff" and one with the only intent "to drown Kerala in liquor".

Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said that on the one hand, it says a massive campaign will be there to reduce the consumption of liquor and on the other, "every new initiative that has been announced will only increase consumption".

"250 retail outlets will be opened and the total retail outlets in the state will touch 559. Another initiative is restaurants and hotels at tourist locations will be allowed to serve beer and wine,” he said.

"What is startling is there is no mention of any strong measures to tackle the huge influx of drugs as none has a clue of from where the drugs are coming into the state. The Excise acts only when there is a tip-off, otherwise, there seems to be no action,” Satheesan added.

Meanwhile, the AITUC, the trade union wing of the CPI - the second-largest member of the ruling Left coalition - is also up in arms as the new policy has given a blanket sanction for resorts and hotels in tourist places to tap toddy from coconut trees and palm trees in their compound, which they feel would be more detrimental than a positive imitative and they have decided to protest against this.

State Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh, however, denied that the new policy is one which is not in the right direction as things have been misunderstood.

The total sales of liquor, beer and wine for the 2022-23 fiscal stood at Rs 18,511.92 crore up from Rs 14,576.21 crore in 2021-22 and the state exchequer received a staggering Rs 16,189.77 crore up from Rs 12,705.79 crore in 2021-22 by way of taxes.

Satheesan also said that the Left government, which has been in power for the past seven years, often claims their aim is to see that over the years, the liquor availability will be brought down in stages but every year their policy is one which helps to increase liquor consumption as this is one sector which brings the maximum revenue for the state.

With inputs from agencies

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