Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government issued an order prohibiting the transport of liquor from other states into its territory without payment of excise duty in a bid to check loss of revenue. This annuls a government order issued in October last year permitting individuals to have possession of three bottles of liquor each without a permit or license. Now, even for personal use, one cannot bring in liquor from outside the state. It has come to the notice of the government that in a large number of cases, liquor from outside the state is being transported into Andhra Pradesh without payment of duty, fees, etc.
This is not only resulting in loss of revenue to the exchequer but also in transport of liquor through non-duty paid means, Revenue Special Chief Secretary Rajat Bhargava said in the order. To curb this, transport of liquor from other states was being banned, he said. The state government’s decision comes in the wake of a recent order of the High Court, wherein the actions of the Special Enforcement Bureau in arresting persons carrying even permitted quantities of liquor, were castigated, official sources said. In recent times, smuggling of liquor from other states like Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha had become rampant as the AP government increased the rates by a whopping 75 percent. Besides, the number of liquor outlets was also sharply reduced to discourage people from consumption.
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