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.
The highly specialised medical services to be rolled out across the state by end November will prove to be a boon for people, especially the poor for whom expert private sector medical care is out of reach, he said.
The Minister while addressing the inaugural session of 'Connect Karo 2021 - Towards Equitable, Sustainable Indian Cities' event, said that there can be no doubt that India's cities "enabled by citizen-centric infrastructure and transformational technology" will be the key to achieving the nation's development objectives.
Meanwhile, India logged 27,254 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours. The country also reported 219 Covid deaths in the same time span. The country presently has nearly 3.75 lakh active cases.
At a virtual Covid-19 review meeting, the Chief Minister said vaccine effectiveness is evident from the data being analysed. Special efforts were made to reach out to the government employees, and those who continue to avoid getting vaccinated will now be asked to go on leave till they get the first dose.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said with the case load decreasing, people had started being lax about wearing masks, which the Health Department should strictly enforce with the help of the police.
Additional Chief Secretary Devendra Singh and Deputy Commissioner of Karnal Nishant Yadav are participating in the meeting. From the farmers side, BKU president Gurunam Singh Chaduni and the state leadership will present their demands.
