Assam: Liquor worth Rs 8 crore sold in Guwahati on New Year's eve

As the New Year was welcomed on a high note, liquor sales continued to conquer the top spot, as celebrations hit Assam’s Guwahati city. 

Keeping the spirits high, reports now suggest that liquor worth Rs 4.80 crore was sold on 31st December 2022 and Rs 3.21 crore on 1st January 2023 in Kamrup Metropolitan District alone.

With this, the previous year’s records have been beaten by a huge margin. On New Year’s eve of 2022, the Kamrup (M) district sold Rs 3,66,89,00 worth of liquor.

Although there has been a huge rise in liquor consumption, there have been zero death cases recorded from road accidents on this new year’s eve in Kamrup district.

According to data acquired from the excise agency, Guwahati's use of alcohol is increasing. From November 30, 2022, the city consumed 14282618.6455 litres of alcohol.

The total amount of beer and liquor consumed between January and November 2021 that was produced in India is equivalent to nine bulk litres, or nine litres. A London Proof Litre (LPL) bottle has a volume of 750 millilitres, and there are 12 bottles in a case.

According to the sources, Guwahati consumed over 1.42 crore litres of alcohol in the first eleven months of 2022, which comes out to more than 7650314.3775 litres of IMFL and more than 6632304.268 litres of beer combined.
In the first eleven months of 2021, Guwahatians consumed almost 126 lakh litres of booze.

During the Winter Session of the Assam Legislative Assembly in 2022, MLA Nurul Huda questioned the Assam excise department for information about the number of liquor stores that received licenses in Assam between June 1, 2016, and November 30, 2022, as well as a list of stores' names by district. Assam had 106 licenses to sell alcoholic beverages when the information was provided. In Assam, there are 1,146 licenses for selling alcoholic beverages and spirits.

Assam government intends to issue additional liquor licenses to stores that deal with liquor businesses in order to guarantee that customers receive legal, high-quality alcohol. The main objective, according to the state government, is to keep regular drinkers from getting dangerous, life-threatening diseases. In addition, the labs will check the tribal drinks' quality that are made locally. These beverages will also be delivered to the customers in a legal manner.

Also read : PM Modi, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma greet people on New Year