Panaji: Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday told the House that almost half of the Goans who are given licence to run the liquor bars have subleased it to non-Goans, including foreigners.
Sawant told the state legislative assembly that state government has decided to double the licence fee for those who have subleased their business to others.
“Government has been giving licences to have bars so that the self employment is generated. But unfortunately, we have seen that almost half of them have subleased their licenes to non-Goans including foreigners,” the chief minister said, responding to the Demands of Grants for Excise department on the floor of the House.
Sawant said that the Excise department has been one of the major revenue earner for the state. “During last fiscal, Rs 477 crore revenue was collected from the department,” he said.
The chief minister said that the state government has been working on to control smuggling of liquor across the border. He said that the state government is contemplating to allow two bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor and one bottle of Goan liquor by giving proper licence to the tourists when they leave the state.
The chief minister said that the state is also contemplating the possibility of installing holograms on the bottles, which will mention all the details including tax paid on it.
“Once we install hologram on the bottle, the revenue will be increased by almost twenty percent,” he said.
Sawant also said that the measures would be taken to stop people from drinking in public places and littering the areas with empty bottles.
