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No plan to shut liquor shops on Varanasi Panchkosi Marg, says excise minister
Nitin Agarwal said the government was not in favour of prohibition as such a step would lead to a massive revenue loss
Stating that there were no immediate plans to close down liquor shops on the Panchkosi Yatra Marg in Varanasi, minister of state (independent charge) for excise and liquor prohibition Nitin Agarwal on Tuesday said the state government would close such shops near religious sites “wherever and whenever needed”.
The minister defended the government’s excise policy during Question Hour in the Legislative Council while responding to a query posed by Samajwadi Party member Ashutosh Sinha, who asked if the government had any plans to close liquor vends around the Panchkosi Yatra Marg on the lines of a ban on the liquor sale in certain areas of Ayodhya and Mathura.
The minister said there were 54 country-made liquor, English wine and model shops on the route and the projected revenue from them for 2022-23 was ₹93 crore.
He stated the government uses revenue earned from liquor sale on development projects and works in the state. “The government is not in favour of prohibition as such a step will lead to a massive revenue loss, which will not be in the interest of the state,” he observed.
“There is a ban in areas of Ayodhya, Mathura and Naimisharanya (Sitapur)… The BJP government is all for the development and promotion of religious sites... and the government will ban liquor vends wherever needed,” Agarwal added.
Meanwhile, BSP MLC Bhimrao Ambedkar asked the government to bring “rationalisation in production and selling costs of country-made liquor” and demanded that its retail price be brought down to make it affordable for the poor. “If the government can distribute free ration to the poor, then why can’t it cut the prices of liquor?” he remarked.
Replying to Ambedkar, Agarwal said a 200 ml country-made liquor bottle (with 36% alcohol) had a production cost of ₹4.95 while its retail price was ₹65. He justified the gap by citing overhead costs such as transport charges, warehousing, licence fee, etc.
Responding to SP MLC Maan Singh Yadav’s question, the excise minister gave details of inspection drives and other action taken by the government for prevention of the sale of hooch. He claimed that there had been no hooch deaths under the Yogi 2.0 government.
Also, in a written reply to Ambedkar’s question seeking details of country-made liquor shops in Ayodhya, Varanasi, Prayagraj, and Gorakhpur, Agarwal stated 40 such facilities existed in the municipality areas of Ayodhya, 131 in Varanasi, 141 in Prayagraj and 69 in Gorakhpur.
During the Zero Hour, Samajwadi Party MLCs, including the party state president Naresh Uttam Patel, accused the government of not doing enough for farmers and the agriculture sector, and staged a walkout.
