VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that the state government is committed to control liquor and taking all the steps in that direction, Commissioner of Distilleries & Breweries and Managing Director Andhra Pradesh state Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL) D Vasudeva Reddy has said that there is no truth in the reports by a section of media that the government is handing over liquor shops to private persons in violation of its own policy.
Stating that the government handed over the liquor sale outlets to APSBCL from October 1, 2019 to control the menace of belt shops (unauthorised liquor kiosks), adhere to business timings and curb other violations, the official said the government has reduced the number of liquor shops to 2,934 from 4,380 in 2019 and is focusing on reducing the consumption of liquor, irrespective of the financial losses.
Besides expediting all the required measures to control liquor, the state government took the suggestions of experts for reaching the objective in the past three years. The government is working with social responsibility for the safety of the people, he maintained.Informing that the APSBCL is a public sector undertaking listed in SEBI, he said financial transactions have been managed transparently. Every transaction of the corporation is online. Audit is also being conducted every year, he said.
Condemning the alleged propaganda that liquor being sold in Andhra Pradesh contains harmful chemicals, he said though the SGS Laboratory, where some liquor samples were tested, clarified that it has not given any interpretation or conclusion that any of the compounds mentioned in the report are harmful in nature, a section of the media and some groups were making the same allegations repeatedly.
In reply to a letter from the APSBCL MD, the SGS Laboratories informed that six samples of whisky and two samples of brandy were received from Murali Krish Pavan Pappu for qualitative screening of compounds by high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-Orbitrap).
The qualitatively identified compounds like Pyrogalllol, DiEthyl phthalate and Iso ferulic acid, which are also naturally occurring and can be identified by high-resolution LC-Orbitrap at very trace levels, the lab informed, adding that they have not tested the sample as per IS 4449 (whisky) and IS 4450 (brandy) as this was not requested. The lab manager added that the laboratory has not given any interpretation or conclusion that any of the compounds mentioned in the report are harmful in nature, he explained.