Cabinet Sub Committee recommends 10% quota for toddy-tappers in liquor shop auctions in Andhra Pradesh

Cabinet Sub Committee recommends 10% quota for toddy-tappers in liquor shop auctions in Andhra Pradesh. New excise policy will be placed before the Cabinet for approval on September 18, say members of the committee. It will be implemented from October 1, they say, and assert that emphasis has been laid on quality and affordability.

The new excise policy proposes 10% reservation for the toddy-tappers in Andhra Pradesh in the auction of liquor shops.

Addressing the media after a meeting with Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, at the Secretariat here on September 17 (Tuesday), members of the Cabinet Sub Committee, comprising Kollu Ravindra, A. Satya Kumar, Nadendla Manohar and Kondapalli Srinivas, asserted that the new excise policy being launched by the NDA coalition government laid emphasis on quality and affordability as opposed to the one adopted by the previous YSRCP dispensation.

“Highest priority has been accorded to transparency and accountability,” the Ministers said.

The new policy would be tabled before the Cabinet for approval on September 18 (Wednesday). It would be implemented from October 1 as the existing policy would lapse by the end of September.

Several teams of officers had visited six States to study the best policies being implemented there, and suggested certain best practices for incorporation in the new policy, the Ministers said

They said the government would negotiate with the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) distilleries to reduce, or give a competitive price for Andhra Pradesh, when compared with the other States.

The previous YSRCP government had mobilised more than ₹13,000 crore loan through the A.P. Beverages Corporation and diverted the amount, alleged Mr. Ravindra alleged, and added that it tuned out to be an additional financial burden.