Metro India News | AMARAVATI

State Mines and Geology & Excise Minister Kollu Ravindra said that the Government would reduce the licence fee for 3-star hotels to boost tourism sector. He was speaking at the state-level review meeting of excise officials at Padmavathi University on Wednesday.

The Minister further added that the government had studied the liquor policy in six states and initiated a new policy. He reminded that liquor shops had been allotted in a transparent manner by conducting a draw. He said that about 90,000 applications were received due to transparent licence allocation and a revenue of Rs 1,800 crores was generated and that the government revived old brands.

The Minister expressed his happiness that smuggling has stopped and also that the “belt shops”(illegal liquor shops) were  almost eliminated. He also informed that the government formed special “eagle” teams in coordination with the Home Ministry for marijuana and ganja eradication. 

Minister Ravindra lamented that in the past, Rs 32,000 crore was borrowed by mortgaging liquor revenue. He said that the CID is investigating transactions to the tune of nearly Rs 1 lakh crores done under the  “cash and carry” policy, whereas under the present government rule, digital payments are made available in all shops and transparency was given top priority.