BENGALURU: The Federation of Wine Merchants Association (FWMA), Karnataka, has written to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa requesting him to allow partial opening of liquor shops from May 4. “There are huge amounts of beer stocks at all the liquor stores that will have to be destroyed if the government does not allow it. Beer has an expiry date of six months from the time of production.
The stocks are already four-months old. This is peak summer and high temperatures inside sealed shops must have already spoilt the taste,” said Govindaraju Hegde, general secretary, FWMA. “Today we have mailed a letter to the Chief Minister with the request to allow opening of liquor shops from 9am to 2pm for selling take-aways. The liquor industry, which contributes around Rs 22,000 crore to the State exchequer, has suffered huge losses for the last 43 days. The government itself is losing around Rs 60 crore of excise revenue per day,” said Govindraju.
He said that the government had ordered ban on sale of liquor in clubs on March 14 followed by another similar order on March 21 for bars. “All liquor stores were shut down on March 23 without any prior notice. We have to pay labour and staff salary, building rents, electricity bills and other overheads. If the lockdown continues and the government doesn’t allow us to open our outlets, many of us will have no option but to shut shop. Government should lend some financial support to the industry for its survival,” said Govindaraju.
He added that non-availability of licit liquor has helped the bootleggers, black marketeers and corrupt officials. “A lot of duplicate and non-duty paid liquor is being sold at exorbitant prices illegally and in many cases, with official complicity,” he charged. “On March 23, there was panic buying of liquor, just before the shutdown. The excise officials want us to explain why such volumes of liquor were sold in just a few hours,” he added.