Right where the Delhi Government has decided to charge a fine of Rs. 50,000 on people drinking at public places and improsonment upto 5 years, the UP government has levied a new system of tax on liquor selling in the state. When quizzed by NewsX correspondents, not only shopkeepers but also top-officials retorted with frowned faces on the present system of tax, known in the state as “Mayawati Tax” which in other states should be nothing less than extortion.
courtesy NDTV
The Mayawati govt. has levied Rs. 5 on one quarter of a liquor bottle, Rs. 10 for half the bottle and 15 for a full. For beer, the charge is less, one bottle being Rs. 5 only. This makes a Rs. 41 deshi liquor bottle purchased by the public at Rs. 55. Although, this may seem a petty amount but of we consider the annual extortion fee, then for foreign liquor or deshi one, the govt. collects an annual Rs 90 crores whereas on the annual selling of beer, charges levied reach Rs. 30 crores. Ths shop-owners informed that this is visible in “each and every shop.”
When asked, Amar Singh of Samajwadi Party confessed that he too was approached to be a part of it, but he “refused to succumb to their pressure.” he also mentioned a “gentleman”, who is a close relative to powerful Punjab politicians and is the main negotiator between the liquor lobby and Shashank Sekhar Singh, the all-powerful Cabinet Secretary in Mayawati’s raj. BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy condemned the extortion and described it as “shocking” and “unbelievable”
This comes just hours after the apex court of the country slams the UP government over its deliberate political tactics over the construction of memorials at Lucknow.
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