Maha: Now, wine permitted to be sold in supermarkets
Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Jan, 2022 02:21 PM
Mumbai, Jan 27 (IANS) In a significant decision, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra on Thursday permitted all supermarkets to sell wine manufactured in the state as part of the new wine policy, officials said.
The decision was taken by the state Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray - and it immediately attracted flak from the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Interestingly, the move comes a week after neighbouring Madhya Pradesh permitted liquor sales at all its airports, select supermarkets in four major cities and also allowed issuing home bar licences to those earning Rs 1 crore or more annually.
Briefing the media, Nationalist Congress Party Minister Nawab Malik said that supermarkets with a minimum area of 1,000 sq ft or more shall be allowed to sell wine - as opposed to beers and other liquors - under the new policy enacted last year after the earlier 20-year-old policy lapsed.
The state has around four-dozen wineries, most centred in Nashik district which accounts for 80 per cent of the wine produced in India, besides small wineries in other districts like Ahmednagar, Sangli, Pune, Solapur and Buldhana.
The country's fledgling wine industry is worth around Rs 1,000 crore with Maharashtra, a pioneering state in this sector, contributing nearly two-third to the revenue.
BJP Leader of Opposition, Devendra Fadnavis, and others slammed the government move, terming it as the MVA's special love for the liquor industry, just like its decisions to lift the prohibition in Chandrapur, cut in excise duty on imported liquor from 300 per cent to 150 per cent etc.
"We shall not allow Maharashtra to become a ‘madya-rashtra'," said Fadnavis, even as other leaders and women's groups criticised the decision.
The MVA government defended the move by saying that it will benefit the fruit farmers who supply their produce to wineries for making wines, besides generating some revenue for the state exchequer.
Most wines have very low alcohol content as compared to hard liquor and many restaurants and bakeries also use wine in certain food-making processes, notably the popular wine or rum cakes.
According to sources, Kejriwal will visit Sangrur, Mansa and Bathinda on October 28 and 29. He will have a dialogue with farmers on Thursday and will meet businessmen on Friday.
The NCB team arrived here this afternoon and is understood to have recorded Wankhede's statement besides summoning a 'Panch-Witness' Prabhakar Sail for probe.
The petition alleged that as per the video of the meeting, the CM was asking party workers to make "500-600-1,000 volunteers" in every district of north and west Haryana, and be ready to "face sticks, imprisonment", which will make them "big leaders".
He trashed allegations that the Border Security Force (BSF) would take over the state's administration or will be deployed in the Golden Temple, and said such misconceptions were being spread by certain people to score brownie points in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
Accusing the BJP of only serving the corporates, he said the BJP government is committed to serve the industrialists who have already set up silos and other infrastructure because of the farm laws.
Claiming that the Delhi government has not withheld a single penny from the MCD, he alleged that the BJP has used its revenues earned from toll tax and advertisements for "illegal purposes". He also said that the saffron party has floated a tender for medicines, which cannot be procured before December.
