With liquor shops closed amid the nationwide lockdown, sale of illicit liquor is on the rise in the state.
Excise department officials have conducted raids cracking whip on the unauthorised trade. In a span of one month, between March 23 and April 23, officials have registered as many as 1,388 cases, with 591 persons arrested in this connection.
According to official data available with the excise department, during various raids, a quantity of 44,081 litres of IML, 30,776 litres of beer, 980 litres of wine, 2,665 litres of toddy, 4,575 litres of ID (illicitly distilled) liquor have been seized.
This apart, a huge quantity (27,152 litres) of wash (unfermented ID) was also seized during the raids from different parts of the state.
While the largest quantity of IML (18,283 litres) was seized in the Hosapete division, that for beer (12,236 litres) and illicit distilled liquor (2,725 litres) was seized in Belagavi division.
A senior official in the department said the illicit trade was being driven by those in the know of the business, some of who have previously had similar charges against them.
Even as the department is cracking down on illicit liquor sales, it is also grappling with lack of revenue the past month, owing to the lockdown.
In the budget, the state government has set an excise revenue target of Rs 22,700 crore for the financial year 2020-21, which accounts for 18% of the state’s own-tax revenues. Towards the end of the 2019-20 fiscal, the government collected Rs 19,701 crore against a target of Rs 20,950 crore. The government even announced an increase in the Additional Excise Duty on IML by 6%, in a measure to boost revenue.