Eyeing R7,650-crore earning from liquor, the Mayawati government, almost like last year, is planning to hand over the wholesale liquor business of the entire state and the retail vends of 18 districts of Western UP to the Ponty Chadha group. The state government is also seriously considering the proposal to increase the term of new liquor policy to two years from one year, as has been the norm till now.
Hoping to earn of R4,290 crore through country liquor, R2,700 crore from IMFL, R490 crore from beer and R170 crore through various other heads, the state government has set a target of taking the total revenue earnings to R7,650 crore from R6,700 crore in 2010-11.
The state?s liquor policy, which is expected to be cleared by the state cabinet in a couple of days, also proposes to raise R2.50 crore in revenue through an increase in the processing fees from retail vends selling for all kinds of liquor from R3,000 to R 5,000 per vend as also increase the minimum guarantee quota by 1% in its four zones of Agra, Varanasi, Lucknow and Gorakhpur.
The status of Meerut special zone, consisting of the more prosperous mostly-urbanised districts of western Uttar Pradesh ? Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Moradabad and Meerut, which had been created and handed over to the Ponty Chadha group in a joint venture with UP Co-operative Sugar Mills Federation, is expected to remain as it is, although the state government is keen on ensuring that the joint venture is taken further by including other government run entities and individuals and private companies.
It may be mentioned that the controversial move of the state government to hand over the wholesale liquor business as well retail vends in Meerut Special zone to Ponty Chadha, for managing on behalf of the state, had earned a lot of ire from the state?s liquor and sugarcane sector, which is sore over the fact that while it is the sugar sector which is the backbone of the state?s economy, the state government, on its part, is happy to play to the tunes of the liquor lobby.
