Ranchi, February 23: In a bid to increase the revenue, the state government led by Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Saturday decided to again hand over liquor sale to private parties. Along with this, the BJP government in the state decided to increase the number of shops to 1,664.

According to the information, the state government took the decision after it failed to get the desired revenue after it took over the retail liquor trade in the state in 2017. As per the decision, the government plans to open 1,664 liquor shops, out of which 718 will be Indian made foreign liquor, 565 of country-made liquor and rest will be composite shops. Bihar Becomes First State in India to Have Special Dog Squad For Detecting Liquor Consignment. 

Briefing more about the decision, an Excise Department official told IANS, “The application for shop allocations to private parties through lottery has been started from Saturday. The application will be invited till March 4 and from March 5 lottery will start.”

During the financial year 2016-17, the Jharkhand government had generated revenue of Rs 957 crore, which decreased to Rs 846 crore during 2017-18 when it started selling liquor. Till January 2019, the government has earned Rs 713 crore against a target of Rs 1,200 crore till March 31.

(With Inputs From Agencies)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 23, 2019 02:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).