Odisha govt earned Rs 988 crore from election time liquor sale !

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, July 25:

Looks like the whole Odisha was literally drowned in liquor during the last general elections. Nothing else explains the  state government earning a whopping Rs 988 crore as revenue from liquor sale during the pre-election phase – between January 2014 and May 2014  !

According to a press release issued today by leading RTI activist Pradip Pradhan, the information was provided by the PIO of the state Excise department on July 24 in response to an RTI query on the sale of liquor from Jan to May 2014.

“The practice adopted by major political parties of distributing liquor among the party cadres to lift their spirits for the campaign and the common people to buy their votes during elections is very common in Odisha and elsewhere in the country. But it is difficult to believe that the consumption of liquor had reached such unthinkable magnitude during the last general elections in Odisha, ” Pradhan said.

From the information provided by the dept. of Excise, it was found that production and sale of liquor and its consumption  increased manifold during January to May 2014.

The following data has been furnished by the Excise department in response to the RTI query:

Sale position of India Made Foreign Liquor ( IMFL), Beer and Country Liquor

2.  Total amount of Excise Revenue collected from Jan to May 2014 is Rs. 988.8 crores

3. A. Production of CS liquor for the period from Jan to May 2014 is 1271 trucks
One Truck = 1000 cases = 5000 BL

B. Production of O.S. Liquor for the period from Jan. to March 14 is 11630865 LPL.

C. Production of O.S. Liquor for the period from April to May is not available in this Dept.