BHUBANESWAR: The New Year, certainly, arrived on a high in Odisha. A staggering 11 lakh litre alcohol was sold by the Odisha State Beverages Corporation (OSBC) on December 30, a day before the zero night celebrations across the state.
On a normal day, the corporation supplies liquor amounting to about Rs 20 crore to vendors but it sold to the tune of Rs 60.73 crore on December 30 which was a Saturday.
Since December 31 was a Sunday and OSBC depots remain closed on that day, liquor offshops and on-shops stocked up the booze a day in advance for the year-end celebrations. The result: OSBC laughed all the way to bank as it reported a 300 per cent jump in daily business.
Sources revealed the corporation sold IMFL and other foreign liquors amounting to Rs 50.84 crore on December 30.
Similarly, beer valued at Rs 8.04 crore and country liquor of Rs 1.83 crore was supplied through its depots. The offtake included 6.72 lakh litre IMFL, 4.83 lakh litre beer and 80,770 litre country liquor.
In Bhubaneswar alone, about 10 pc of the total foreign liquor offtake standing at 63,898 litre was recorded.
It was followed by Cuttack (68,591 litre), Puri (38,807 litre) and Jajpur (35,245 litre) districts. Similarly, beer supply in Bhubaneswar stood at 35,578 litre, followed by Koraput (32,382 litre), Cuttack (30,457 litre) and Balangir (27,449 litre).
Sources said OSBC’s country liquor outlets are mostly located in coastal districts. On December 30, the corporation supplied the maximum volume of country liquor to Cuttack, Jajpur and Khurda districts. In the state capital, both offshops and on-shops recorded a significant jump in business on December 31 night.
“On normal days, I sell liquor worth about Rs 2 lakh but on December 31, the sale was Rs 3.50 lakh,” said the owner of an off-shop at Janpath, requesting anonymity.
Another off-shop promoter said pubs in the city earned much more during zero night celebrations.
“Pubs are permitted to remain open till 1.30 am. However, off-shops close at their usual time of 10.30 pm. Our outlets should be allowed to remain open till at least 11 pm,” he said.
A pub owner in Patia said he sold more than 30 full bottles of whiskey and scotch on December 31 night. “We generally record a business of about Rs 1.50 lakh to Rs 2 lakh during Sundays but my income on December 31 was Rs 4.85 lakh. We offered unlimited drinks, starters and main course to each couple for Rs 5,000,” he said.
There are about 1,149 off-shops, 724 on-shops in Odisha.
