|
Next time you plan to sip your favourite alcoholic beverage, be prepared to shell out more! And if you are a regular “mandhu babu” you can now (tongue-in-cheek) claim that your money is funding the Arogya Sri scheme too! The state government has laid out the ground work to increase all prices of IMFL brands. The ones that will have the maximum impact in price are the low and medium end brands. The government intends to divert the rise in revenue to its Arogya Sri scheme. Increasing prices of cigarettes and alcohol have long been the preferred route for cash-starved governments. Though anti-tobacco and liquor prohibition lobbies blasted this move of the government terming it “insensitive” and “opportunistic” the government argued saying that the rising price can act as a deterrent to consumption! Meanwhile the liquor manufacturing companies are happy over this move as they feel that they can rake in some hefty profits and go ahead with their long pending expansion plans.
|
