Liquor revenue in state increases rapidly since 2016

SHILLONG: Meghalaya has made good progress in generating revenue from liquor in the last two-three years and the revenue graph is expected to increase further as informed by officials.
Sources said that the state Excise Department generated revenue of Rs 150 crore till 2016, after which it was increased to Rs 169 crore and in the last year, the department managed to generate revenue of Rs 199 crore.
Sources said that the revenue growth is impressive and the department is looking to achieve even higher revenue in the years to come.
Reacting to a query on how the revenue would be increased in years to come, a source said that the Government is currently working on hard data analysis to see as to how the revenue can be further increased.
When asked, how the department is stopping the illegal sale of liquor in the city and other parts of the state which also leads to leakage of revenue, the sources said that it is the responsibility of the respective Deputy Commissioners to ensure that there is regular enforcement.
It was also informed that last year, there were several complaints about illegal liquor being sold in different parts of the city following which, the Excise department wrote to the DC to take action against such illegal liquor.
It may be mentioned that the Excise department every month conducts raid and many cases are registered besides quite a substantial amount of liquor is also seized in the city.