Govt Liquor Shops Not To Procure Unpopular Brands

The Delhi Government has decided to make major changes in its liquor procurement policy while framing the new excise policy.

It has come to light that the excise department was losing several crores due to poor quality brands being stocked in the liquor shops. Sources said that there was a drastic fall in purchase of beer in the Capital because of dearth of popular brands. According to a Finance Ministry official, as per rough estimates, Rs 25 crore was being lost due to the unpopular beer brands. The losses in case of other liquors were even higher.

Delhi Finance Minister Mahender Singh Saathi said that in order to check these anomalies it has been decided to bring major changes in the procurement policy.

 

He said that a large number of brands of beer and other forms of liquor will be banned in the coming budget. "The shops are stocked by these poor quality brands which help increase the cross-border smuggling as people go to neighbouring Haryana to purchase the better brands. These anomalies will be checked in the new excise policy and the poor quality brands will be banned," added the Finance Minister.

Sources said that the new excise policy will stress that the 'slow moving' brands will not be stocked in the liquor shops.