Now, pay more cow cess on purchase of liquor in Himachal Pradesh

Increase in cow cess on the sale of a liquor bottle from ₹1 to ₹1.50 from the financial year 2020-21 for protection of cows

Be ready to pay more for liquor as the Himachal Pradesh government on Saturday decided to increase cow cess on the sale of a liquor bottle from ₹1 to ₹1.50 from the financial year 2020-21 for protection of cows.

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With this, the state government is expecting to earn a revenue of ₹13.5 crore as they have estimated sale of atleast nine crore liquor bottles in the upcoming year. The amount received will be utilised for maintenance of cow shelters and cow sanctuaries.

Principal secretary to chief minister Sanjay Kundu confirmed the development and said the government has decided to increase cow cess from 2020-21 to fund cow protection.

In 2018, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur had announced to levy ₹1 cess (called ‘Gau Vansh Vikas cess) on the sale of every bottle of liquor in order to generate revenue to contribute to set up Gau Seva Aayog and to rehabilitate as many as 32,000 stray cattle throughout the state.

The state government has earned about ₹1481 crore from sale of liquor in the financial year 2018-19 and has set a target to earn an estimated amount of ₹1620 crore in 2019-20.

Last year, the government had jacked up the prices of country-made and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) rates by 5 % for the financial year 2019-20. The ex-distillery price were marginally increased as the liquor companies had been suffering losses due to the higher cost of production of the liquor manufacturing plants.

Liquor to be sold till 2am

As per the new rules, liquor will be sold till 2am in restaurants of popular and selected tourist destinations including Shimla, Kasauli, Manali, Dharamshala, Dalhousie, Sangla and others which is also going to boost the sale of liquor in the state.