Liquor sale in state up by 50%: Govt

The comparative sale of liquor bottles rose from 55,41,687 to 63,38,511 during the period in question.

The increase in sales has come more from four major cities of Surat,Vadodara,Rajkot and Ahmedabad — in that order.

Four outlets in Surat sold 20.48 lakh bottles of liquor worth Rs 17.83 crore between November 2008 and October 2009. In the corresponding period the previous year,18.79 lakh bottles were sold for Rs 15.10 crore. Gujarat JHM Hotel topped the list by selling 6,54,630 bottles worth Rs 5.80 crore from November 2008 to October 2009. Hotel Oasis closely followed it by selling 6,36,983 bottles worth Rs 5.16 crore.

Vadodara followed Surat in liquor sales. F P Patel and Co in the city has sold four times of what they had sold in 2007-08. That year,they sold liquor worth Rs 1.14 crore,but the following year,the sale was worth Rs 4.63 crore. Another hotel,Kaviraj,sold liquor worth Rs 4.53 crore in 2008-09 (Nov-Oct).

Liquor sold in Rajkot doubled from Rs 3.37 crore to Rs 7.59 crore in one year. City Organisers P Ltd in Rajkot alone accounted for sales worth Rs 3.07 crore in 2007-08. Between November 2008 and October 2009,liquor sale was worth Rs 2.64 crore.

Five outlets in Ahmedabad sold liquor worth Rs 4.71 crore in 2007-08,but in 2008-09,they sold liquor worth Rs 7.94 crore,much less than Surat and Vadodara.

Hotel President and Hotel Inder Residency together accounted for sale of Rs 5.37 crore. Hotel President sales were worth only Rs 15.63 lakh in the previous year; but within a year,sales shot up to Rs 2.35 crore.