Liquor sales ‘poll’ vault

By Radha Rani

Liquor flows freely in the state in blatant violation of the Election Commission’s directive to officials to check its sale during the elections. Excise figures of four coastal districts for March show that belt shops have not only been not shut down, but have actually mushroomed.

Excise officials told HNN that sales from the authorised liquor shops in the district account for 60 per cent of the total revenue collection while the belt shops account for the remaining 40 per cent. That the belt shops have not been closed down is revealed by the fact that Nellore district registered a record sale of Rs.46.07 crore in March alone, almost 60 per cent more than the sale in February.

In fact, the sale of liquor in Nellore was the highest in March for the past four months with February accounting for the least, Rs 27.58 crore. In Prakasam district, the liquor revenue shot up to Rs 29.59 in March from Rs 20.56 in February. In Guntur district, the revenue increased by nearly Rs five crore in March while it jumped up by Rs three crore in Krishna district.

“If the belt shops were closed down, the sale of liquor would have dropped by 35-40 per cent. But that has not happened and on the contrary, the sale of liquor has
shot up, implying that more belt shops have sprung up,” said an excise official.

The belt shops are flourishing in complete violation of the directive given by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy when he had visited the state on March 13. “All the belt shops should be closed down within the next 48 hours,” was his command. AP’s chief electoral officer I V Subba Rao too told the media that steps were being taken to ensure the closure of the shops.