Maharashtra: the state starts electronic tokens to buy liquor

The measure comes after the state has witnessed a massive avalanche of alcoholic beverages, ignoring the rules of social distancing to buy liquor at liquor stores. (Representative photo)

The Uddhav Thackeray government in Maharashtra will introduce an electronic token system for liquor sales in the state on a pilot basis starting Sunday.

The measure comes after the state has witnessed a massive avalanche of alcoholic beverages, ignoring the rules of social distancing to buy liquor at liquor stores. In view of the overcrowding, the Municipality of Mumbai has decided to keep 1,169 liquor stores within its jurisdiction closed for the time being. Two other districts, Osmanabad and Latur, have similarly canceled permits for these stores.

“We will start with an e-token pilot in a city within the Pune metro area. The plan is then to apply it statewide, ”said a senior official with the state’s special tax department. The Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, where the state itself runs liquor stores, has already introduced an electronic token system to prevent overcrowding in liquor stores.

In addition, Maharashtra has begun to explore the option of allowing home delivery of spirits as an option to alleviate overcrowding and ensure social distancing. Although the special tax is the third highest gross income for the state treasury, the government continues to promote a policy of banning alcoholic beverages on paper.

“We are a state of prohibition. The Maharashtra Prohibition Act of 1949 prohibits soliciting the use or consumption of alcohol. Even the advertising or publication of alcohol related brochures is currently prohibited,” said another senior official.

The push for online liquor sales and home delivery comes at a time when state revenue has dwindled due to prolonged blockage of the coronavirus. While the government has already estimated a loss of revenue worth Rs 50bn, a panel of experts set up by him for measures to revive the economy has estimated that the state’s revenue in 2020-21 will drop 40 percent or Rs 1.40 lakh crore below your budgeted target.

In some ways, officials say the long lines witnessed outside liquor stores since May 2 have somehow popularized the belief that drinking liquor is part of the lives of many Indians. Additionally, the state has a limited option to increase revenue under the GST regime; Tax collection for “good sin” seems like a low fruit when others earning income will have to wait for the blockade to be lifted and for some normalcy to resume in operations. For 2020-21, the government has targeted an income of Rs 19,225 crore from special taxes.

“The rules will need to be changed to allow for home delivery and online sales. The option is being studied, ”said an official with the special tax department. According to directives issued by the Finance department, special tax authorities are also studying the routes taken by the governments of Punjab, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to allow online deliveries. Of these, Chhattisgarh has also introduced the electronic token system. While the other two states have allowed home deliveries. Like Delhi, Chhattisgarh also has liquor sellers run by a state corporation.

Maharashtra, on the other hand, has licensed 4,159 country liquor stores, 1,686 wine shops, and 4,947 breweries. However, state excise officials are not in favor of allowing wine shops to link with food delivery companies. They are cautious about selling illicit, low-quality liquor. They are more inclined to allow the local wine store to make home deliveries in the neighborhood. Another aspect being studied is how ban activists might respond to this shift toward liquor promotion.

Incidentally, unlike Delhi, the web link for Maharashtra’s electronic token system will not be hosted on a government platform. “The Wholesale Wine Merchants Association, an industry body, has developed application software that will be used for the issuance of electronic liquor tokens,” an official reported.

Under the system, customers, after choosing their district and the nearby wine store, will receive specific hours to purchase alcohol, reducing wait and queues at stores. Meanwhile, the excise department said the crowding at the liquor stores has decreased since Friday.

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