In December, Mumbai metropolitan region’s daily liquor permit sales 5 times of average – Times of India

MUMBAI: After a two-year lull owing to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and curbs, permit liquor seems to have begun flowing freely this December with the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) recording five times of the average monthly consumption.
Between December 1 to 28, around 21 lakh people bought liquor stock along with daily drinking permits of Rs 2 and Rs 5 each in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts together, mostly for Christmas and New Year Eve parties. On an average, four to five lakh daily permits and liquor stock purchases are made in a month in the entire metropolitan region, officials pointed out. In December 2021, around seven lakh daily drinking permits were issued, they added.
A senior excise officer said that the number of purchases by individual liquor buyers at shops and bars had dropped drastically during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.
According to the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949, a liquor permit is needed to legally consume, possess, transport or purchase alcohol in Mumbai. One has to pay Rs 1,000 for a lifetime permit, Rs 100 for a one-year permit, Rs 5 for a one-day permit for foreign liquor and Rs 2 for a one-day permit for country liquor. Only those aged 25 years and above are eligible for a liquor permit.
Meanwhile, the suburban excise administration has arrested 88 people in 92 cases of bootlegging and illicit liquor sale this month. In Thane, 247 people have been detained in 354 crimes related to illegal liquor sale.
Suburban excise superintendent Snehalata Shrikar said that the administration is keeping a vigil on unscrupulous elements involved in illegal trade of liquor.
Two toll-free numbers – 8422001133 and 18002339999 – have been arranged by the excise administration for citizens to lodge complaints if they notice any fraud, said an official release.