Madhya Pradesh to allow purchase of foreign liquor online, BJP says govt delivering liquor at doorstep

The Madhya Pradesh government has renewed its excise policy for 2020-21, according to which no new liquor shops will be opened in the state while foreign liquor can be purchased online. Indian liquor is not currently included in the policy.

Apart from this, bar codes will be introduced on every bottle to prevent illegal sale of liquor.

It has been also been decided that 15 new wine outlets will be opened at tourist spots for the promotion of wine made from grapes. The fees of these outlets will be Rs 10,000 annually.

Making an announcement on Saturday, the Madhya Pradesh government said that to increase the revenue, all 2,544 country liquor shops and 1,061 foreign liquor shops operating in the state will be executed with a 25 per cent increase in the annual fees of last year.

At the same time, it has been decided that no new liquor shops will be opened in Madhya Pradesh.

Earlier, the Excise Department had proposed that if there is no shop within 5 km radius of the liquor shop, then the liquor sub-shop can be opened there. However, this proposal was opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as some ministers of the ruling party Congress.

The BJP has opposed the decision for online delivery of foreign liquor. BJP state vice-president Rameshwar Sharma tweeted, “Kamalnath govt at your doorstep with alcohol. Kamal Nath ji, this step of your government in the direction of making Madhya Pradesh a liquor state will push the future of the state towards drunkenness. Your government’s intention has been cleared by the decision to deliver alcohol online at home.”

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