UP to implement rigid barcoding system on liquor sale

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to implement a more rigid barcoding system to prevent sale of illicit and smuggled liquor in the state.

Barcoding of liquor bottles would be done by a third-party firm with a turnover of over Rs 150 crore as against the present practice wherein the distilleries themselves do the job. The barcoding system would be implemented from the stage of bottling in distilleries to retail sales.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The entire project will cost about Rs 763 crore and there will be no financial burden on the government for this, Principal Secretary, Excise, Sanjay Bhoosreddy said.

"From distilleries to warehouses to liquor shops, barcoding system will be in place. An individual will have to get the barcode on the bottle scanned while purchasing liquor. Bottles without barcodes cannot be sold," he said.

Over, 37,000 barcode scanning machines will have to be purchased for implementation of this scheme, Bhoosreddy said.

The cabinet also decided to increase capacity of sugar mills at Munderwa in Basti and Pipraich in Gorakhpur, creating new employment opportunities. Both the mills will in the future make sulphur-less sugar.