TIRUPATI: Sale of liquor in the first three weeks of February, during the gram panchayat elections, has come as a blessing for the excise department, as the value of liquor sold went up by 6.76 per cent when compared to the same period last year.
Going by the sales report of the excise department, the overall consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages has fallen drastically but the department earned Rs 1,473.91 crore from February 1 to 21, whereas it was Rs 1,380.58 crore during the same period last year.
Around 14.15 lakh cases of Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) were sold, marking a 22 per cent decrease over the sale of 18.23 lakh cases during the same period last year. Similarly, 4.57 lakh beer cases were consumed this year – 22 per cent less than the corresponding figure (5.89 lakh cases) last year.
In all, five districts – Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Guntur, Krishna and West Godavari — accounted for nearly 53 per cent of all liquor sold in the…