Country made liquor and Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) would be dearer in Himachal as the state government today increased the licence fee by up to 21 per cent aiming an additional revenue of Rs 170 crore. The revenue from excise was estimated at Rs 720 crore during 2011-12 compared to Rs 549 crore during the current financial year,Principal Secretary (Excise and taxation),Bhim Sen said. The licence fee for has been increased by 6.1 per cent and 21 per cent respectively from Rs 113 per proof litre (PPL) to Rs 120 PPL for country liquor and raised from Rs 157 PPL to Rs 190 PPL for IMFL. "The policy aims to achieve a uniform rate of levies on a par with the neighbouring states to achieve reasonable price of liquor to the consumers," Sen said. Also,in another move to make the hill state plastic-free,the government has decided to do away with plastic liquor bottles and pouches and promote only glass bottles from April 1 next,he added. "The new excise police has approved 100 per cent bottling of liquor in glass bottles and completely ban the use of plastic bottles," he said. The new policy also aimed at rationalising the minimum granted quota of country liquor and IMFL to be allotted to the retail vendors in view of the growing trend of IMFL consumption in the state. The minimum granted quota of country liquor has been increased more than country liquor,which has been fixed at 1.90 crore proof litre as compare to 1.65 crore proof litre during 2010-11. Similarly the IMFL quota has been increased from 1-crore proof liters to 1.2 crore proof litres. The policy also endeavoured to provide the best quality liquor to the consumer by allowing manufacturer of country made liquor from ENA a better quality raw material than the rectified spirit. The bar licence fee for Hotels has been reduced and the bar timings have been revised to enable the licensed bars to do fair business. The licence fee has been kept at Rs 25,000 for hotels having 30 or less rooms,Rs 50,000 for 31 to 50 rooms and Rs 1 lakh for hotels having more than 51 rooms. Meanwhile,the auction of 49 toll tax barriers in Himachal fetched Rs 74.64 crore registering an increase of 69 per cent over last years auctions that yielded Rs 43 crore. Except one barrier in Chamba district,which would be re- auctioned all other barriers were auctioned for higher bids,Excise and taxation Commissioner,J C Sharma said.
