Fall in Excise revenue collection: Meghalaya Minister

Meghalaya government has recorded a fall in excise revenue collection, state Excise minister Zenith M Sangma said today.

The revenue collection this year was comparatively less by about Rs 5 crore as compared to the preceding years, Zenith told the Assembly.

Till January 31 this year, the collection of excise revenue was a little over Rs 127 crore only. There is a marked shortfall of about Rs 5.29 crore revenue for the corresponding year last year, he said.

The reason for this was because of the 581 wine-shops across the state, only 296 were found to be in compliance with the Supreme Court order banning sale of liquor along national and state highways and hence allowed to do business, he said.

The NGT ban on coal mining has also affected the sale of liquor where in the revenue dropped during the period, he said.

Excise department collected Rs 170.05 crore in the year 2015-16, Rs 151.13 crore in the year 2014-15 and Rs 162.66 crore in the preceding year, the minister informed.

Lately, the government is working out a policy in which the distance from schools and educational institutions was taken into consideration in which more wine shops are expected to operate.

In his reply to supplementary, Zenith said steps are taken to legalise sale of country liquor, the same of which is legal in parts of Jaintia Hills districts.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)