Liquor overflows on New Year's eve

1.17 lakh litres sold on Dec 31, 2014

Mysoreans welcomed 2015 in very high ‘spirits’. On December 31 alone, the sales of Indian Made Liquor (IML) in the district stood at whopping 1.17 lakh litres.

According to the statistics available at the office of Deputy Commissioner, Excise department, Mysuru, the liquor sales on December 31 touched a whopping high of 1,17,780 litres -- 10 to 20 pc more than the corresponding period in 2013.

In the month of December 2014, a total of 21.32 lakh litres of sales has been recorded, a few notches high when compared to December 2013, which saw sales of 20.48 lakh litres. Throughout the year 83.32 lakh litres of liquor was sold.

Sources told Deccan Herald, the IML sales include whisky, brandy, rum and gin. If the sales of beer is taken into account, then the revenue earned would be still higher. On the day, as many as 17 hotels and clubs had obtained permits from the Police and Excise departments to remain open  till 1 am.

In Mysuru district, a total of 484 types of licences are issued by the Excise department. It includes CL 2 type (wine store), CL-7 (bar with boarding facility of 15 rooms in City Corporation limits and 10 outside the Corporation limits for SC, ST candidates).

Licence is mandatory for boarding facility of 30 rooms in the city, and 20 outside. The other types of licences issued are CL-9 (bar and restaurants), CL-11C (Mysore Sales International Limited outlets) and CL-4 (clubs).

Among them, wine stores and bar and restaurants top in numbers, compared to other types of licences.