Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): State cabinet in its meeting on Tuesday approved a Composite Excise and Heritage Liquor Policy with an aim to effectively control manufacture, transportation, storage and sale of illegal and non-standard liquor, as per the state government spokesperson.
Under the new policy foreign liquor shops can be opened at all airports in the state and counters for selling wine can be operated in selected super markets in Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Gwalior.
As per the state government’s spokesperson, the new policy- Composite Excise Policy 2022-23 and Heritage Liquor Policy 2022 aims at reducing in retail sale rates of liquor by about 20% to bring down it a practical level.
“Execution of country/foreign liquor shops of all districts can be done on the lines of small single clusters. All liquor shops will be composite shops, which will not create conditions for selling illegal liquor”, states the policy as per the spokesperson.
As per another important provision, the high level district committee of collectors and MLAs of the districts will have the right to change the location of liquor shops geographically according to the local needs of their district.
There will be no duty on wine made in the state using grapes produced by the farmers of the state.
In the country liquor supply system, district wise tender can be called among the distilleries of the state. This year the rate of tetra packing can also be called.
E-excise system will be implemented to prevent loss of revenue. In this, track and trace of liquor, scanning of QR codes, testing of validity will be easy.
Under heritage liquor policy, permission has been given for pilot project of liquor made from Mahua flower. After this it will be presented before the sub-committee of the cabinet.
Under this, approval of new bar license in the year 2022-23 will be done from the collector level as per the norms set by the government.
Bar licenses can be given at concessional rates on the basis of simple procedures/parameters to the units operated by Eco-Tourism Board, temporary nature units of Tourism Development Corporation at places important from the point of view of tourism.
Foreign liquor sales counters can be opened at all airports and licenses can be issued to operate counters for selling wine on fixed license fees in selected super markets in Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior.
Permission will be given to open micro-breweries in Indore and Bhopal, but no objection certificate from Environment, Power Departments and Municipal Corporation will be required.
The process of importing liquor will be simplified.
Home bar license can be given, for which an annual license fee of Rs 50000 will be charged. It will be eligible for those whose gross personal income is minimum one crore of rupees.
