The Uttarakhand Cupboard on Monday accepted a brand new excise coverage that features a mandate to revoke the licence of liquor retailers close to non secular areas.
In response to the state authorities, the coverage was formulated “with a deal with the significance of spiritual areas”.
The definition of a spiritual space and the space from such an space at which the sale of liquor will be allowed shall be made clear in a Authorities Order to be issued quickly, a senior official mentioned.
At present, there’s a ban on establishing liquor retailers in a seven-km radius of Har Ki Pauri and Rishikesh Municipal Council. Liquor is banned within the Char Dham circuit and Hemkund Sahib.
The brand new coverage additionally says {that a} store can lose its licence if it sells liquor for greater than its most retail worth. “MRP guidelines can even apply to departmental shops to guard shopper rights,” a authorities assertion mentioned.
A senior official mentioned the system of metro liquor and sub-shops have been abolished below the brand new coverage.
The coverage additionally mandates that wholesale liquor licences can solely be issued to residents of Uttarakhand as a part of an effort to “guarantee financial advantages inside the state”.
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“To advertise wineries in hill areas, models producing wine from domestically grown fruits will obtain excise responsibility exemptions for the following 15 years,” the assertion mentioned. That is aimed to profit farmers and people engaged in horticulture.
Funding within the liquor business is inspired by lowering export duties, and malt and spirit industries in hill areas will obtain particular incentives, the Cupboard mentioned.
Additional, distilleries shall be inspired to make use of native agricultural merchandise, which can improve farmers’ earnings and open new markets for them.
The income goal for 2025-26 is Rs 5,060 crore. In 2023-24, in opposition to a goal of Rs 4,000 crore, the state earned Rs 4,038.69 crore and in 2024-25, the goal was Rs 4,439 crore, out of which practically Rs 4,000 crore has already been collected, the assertion mentioned.
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The Cupboard has additionally accepted a choice to teach college students about “Uttarakhand’s motion and cultural heritage”, and a supplementary guide titled Our Heritage and Icons shall be included within the curriculum for courses 6-8.
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