Andhra: Lanka Dinakar questions state govt over estimated excise revenue

BJP leader Lanka Dinakar on Wednesday lashed out at the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for his alleged failure to impose the proposed liquor ban in the state.

"YS Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in 2019 after which the present Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy presented the budget. They took the decision to implement phase-wise liquor ban and as an initiation, it said that the Andhra government intends to operate liquor shops so as to scale down its consumption," Dinakar told ANI here.

Outling the estimated excise duty from the liquor, he further added, "They said they were planning to reduce liquor shops to 3500 from approximately 4300 which were open. But ironically, as per the Budget figures for the Financial Year 2019-20 the state excise duty from the liquor has been estimated at Rs 8,200 Crores at a tax rate of 11 per cent from the total budgeted tax revenue of Rs 75,438 Crores".

The BJP leader questioned the motive of the YSRCP government in connection with bringing down the liquor consumption in the state.

"How can the Andhra Pradesh government estimate Rs 8,200 Crores for the year 2019-20 after scaling down the shops with an intention to reduce the consumption of the liquor. There was an estimated revenue of just Rs 7,340 crore when there were no restrictions on the liquor shops in the last year," Dinakar said.

He further alleged that if the Andhra Pradesh government is committed it should establish de-addiction centres in the state and spread education regarding the ill-effects of liquor consumption instead of running shops by itself.

"There is a possibility of centralized corruption in the present liquor policy to woo the black marketers, which may cause serious problems as timings of shops are defined and the liquor mafia can collude with the present ruling party leaders," he added.