Himachal Pradesh Affairs
Himachal would now have excise police to check the inter-state and intra-state smuggling of liquor, illicit trade and bootlegging of liquor.
Giving approval to the excise policy for financial year 2021-22, the state cabinet on Monday approved in principle to have excise Police in the Excise and Department to check the inter-state and intra-state smuggling of liquor, illicit trade and bootlegging of liquor leading to substantial loss of excise revenue to the government exchequer.
According to the new policy, low-price brands of IMFL will be cheaper as license fees and excise duty have been reduced. However, the liquor quota of bars attached to hotels has been reduced by 50 per cent in the state.
Under the new policy, the facility of transfer of quota within district and inter-district has also been approved.
The new policy envisages collection of Rs 1,829 crore revenue during the year which is Rs 228 crore higher than the financial year 2020-21 thereby registering an increase of 14 per cent