Uttarakhand should have better quality liquor to enthuse tourists to come to Uttarakhand in large numbers : CM Dhami

The chief minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami has emphasised that Uttarakhand’s liquor outlets should have better quality liquor brands so that the tourists could come in Uttarakhand in large numbers and do not bring liquor with them. This will help boost the tourism sector which is the main source of income he added. He was speaking at the meeting of senior officers of excise department at Dehradun secretariat the other day.

In Uttarakhand the fiscal deficit as per the CAG report is Rs 65000 thousand crores, more than the annual state budget and this deficit is bound to enhance further every year which was in 2002 mere 612 crores.

The successive governments of this Himalayan state have been banking on increasing the sale of liquor on a wide scale with lot of hue and cry during the rule of Trivendra Singh Rawat as CM for granting licences to even grocery shops with an annual turnover of Rs fifty lakhs and supplying liquor in interiors of Uttarakhand in mobile vans n tempos carrying them with a banner of ” Mobil Liquor Shops”.

This trend commenced two years ago when women and men badly affected by the liquor consumption spoiling their families didn’t allow opening of liquor Shops in their respective areas, by gheraoing and stopping them. There have been even cases of senior officers intervening to open these liquor shops in interior areas, despite massive opposition.

About two years ago there were widespread protests in Uttarakhand against opening of liquor shops in the interiors and road sides by women groups who are usually the worst victims.

But gradually after tremendous hue and cry these spate of protests subsided.

The state government earns the maximum revenue from liquor sales in the state to the tune of Rs 3000 crores annually, though during the lock down the annual revenue came down drastically affecting the already overburdened fiscal deficit economy of the state.

The Uttarakhand “Thekas” ( the liquor shops ) in the towns and interiors usually carry not so good quality whisky brands complain the tourists and that too quite expensive, carrying quality brands of other states with them.

In majority of liquor shops, the liquor is comparatively costly, and not of qualitative standards as well n even charging the consumers charge extra money.

During the tenure of the Congress rule there were complaints of every liquor shop allegedly selling “Dennis whisky” With lot criticism in the media.

Uttarakhand, being a hilly area with its winters extremely chilling the consumption of liquor is too much here with a proverb in the past becoming very popular : Suraj Asth sabhi mast”. Though it was just a joke but it did fitted in the case of majority of addicted in interior villages and townships of Uttarakhand spoiling the socio economic fabric of umpteen number of families.

But what is the most worrisome factor about the increasing liquor consumption in Uttarakhand hills and that too of low n substandard quality is that the state administration and successive government’s have never cared about peoples’ health but have been much worried about generating revenue to bridge the fiscal deficit to some extent.

Even the present chief minister of Uttarakhand Pushkar Singh Dhami is worried about the existing low quality liquor in Uttarakhand shops and recommends for availability of standard n high quality liquor brands not because the health of the local consumers is improved but because this is the demand of the tourists who add handsomely to the revenue of the state through tourism and liquor being its most significant ingredient.

The chief minister says that if the tourists with get liquor of their brands n tastes, they want buy them from outside and this will add to the revenue of the state.

He added that Uttarakhand is a tourism state which generates maximum revenue from this important sector. If the tourists coming from abroad and other states of India will have any inconvenience, not only will their numbers decrease but the state will lose tremendous amount of revenue through tourism. We should therefore emphasise more and more on providing basic and other comfortable facilities to the tourists that also include making them available the branded quality whiskies of their choice said the CM the other day while speaking at the analytical meeting of the Transport and excise department of Uttarakhand.

It may be recalled that while the Excise department collects nearly Rs three thousand crores from the liquor sales throughout its 650 outlets the transport department is running in losses of several hundred crores.

The liquor traders have to pay from 40 lakh to one crore every month as their licence fee says a news report and during the lock down period due to zero sales about 90 liquor traders had applied for surrendering their liquor shops for not being able to pay the exorbitant license fee to the Excise department said sources.

The tourism sector too suffered a tailspin and heavy losses during the challenging pandemic times with spiritual, religious tourism suffering the most due to closure of Char Dham portals.