The Income Tax department’s attachment of Liquor depots in both the Telugu States had seriously affected the liquor supply in both the states. Wine shops and bars are not getting supplies from the depots as a result and there are losing business. Excise duty also brings big revenue for the states and it should be affected as well but that did not happen in Andhra Pradesh.
Income Tax department first attached depots of Telangana. Sensing a problem, immediately Andhra Pradesh officials got alerted and informed the licensees to stock more liquor before the attachment. Usually in the first two days of a month, government gets 20-24 Crore income but on March 1-2, it got 36 Crore income due to this stocking.
So officials say there will not be any shortage of liquor till a week. Government is planning to get a stay on these attachments in this time. Meanwhile government is also making arrangements to supply liquor from remaining 15 depots in the state if necessary. It would have been a serious financial loss for AP if the government was not alert.
