Home Delivery of Liquor! Maharashtra minister says online sale allowed, then backtracks fearing controversy

The minister said that allowing home delivery of liquor will help to curb the instances of drunken driving.

Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi: BJP government in Maharashtra virtually sparked a controversy after a minister announced that the BJP-led government has decided to allow online sale and home delivery of alcohol. However, later the minister stated that only a proposal in this regard has been received. Talking to news agency PTI, Excise Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule "We want to curb the instances of drunken driving. Allowing home delivery of liquor will help in this.” He however did not elaborate  as to when the decision would come into effect. However , apparently fearing outrage from opposition parties and anti-liquor activists , he later said that only a proposal had been received. "We have a received an application requesting framing of a policy for purchase of liquor online from home. However, the government has not thought about it, nor there has been any policy (framed)," Bawankule told reporters in Nagpur. He also said that his department recently took action against 35 liquor shops in the state for providing foreign liquor at customers' doorstep by taking orders through certain WhatsApp groups. Earlier, a senior official in the excise department had told PTI that increasing the revenue was also a prime objective behind the decision to allow online sale of liquor. The government is losing sizable excise tax due to closure of around 3,000 liquor outlets located near the highways owing to the Supreme Court's order, he said. Also, the reduction in prices of petrol and diesel earlier this month has caused some strain on the state's treasury, the official had added. (With inputs from PTI)