Over 14,000 litres of liquor seized in last four months in Gautam Budh Nagar

Noida: Gautam Budh Nagar excise department arrested 164 people between April 1 to July 31 this year for allegedly bringing liquor meant for sale in other states to Uttar Pradesh. In comparison, the department apprehended 173 people for the same offence over a span of 12 months during the last financial year .

According to the RB Singh, district excise officer (DEO), the number of arrests has increased because of the heavy rebate available on liquor in Delhi since November 2021. A new excise policy introduced at the time effected heavy discounts of up to 30-40% on alcohol in the national capital.

“As a result, people from Gautam Budh Nagar are preferring to buy liquor from across the border in Delhi to save money. This has also led to a rise in smuggling of alcohol from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh via the Gautam Budh Nagar district,” he said.

The department has seized 14,812 litres of smuggled liquor between April 1 and July 31 this year. During the same period last year, only 6,577 litres of liquor were seized, and a total of 27,000 litres of liquor was seized throughout the last financial year.

The excise department has been conducting intensive checking at Noida-Delhi borders to monitor the movement of liquor. “There are around 40 liquor shops in Gautam Budh Nagar which are located near the Delhi border. These shops reported a 40% dip in revenues since April 2022,” DEO Singh said.

Last week, confusion prevailed over Delhi’s excise policy, which was going to expire on July 31 but was extended by a month following a notice issued on Monday evening. Asked whether the district excise department is expecting any dip in liquor smuggling with the new changes, DEO Singh said, “We are not letting our guards down yet and will continue to carry out intensive checking on the border as licenses have been extended for a month.”

The Gautam Budh Nagar excise department was struggling to meet revenue targets for the last few months, but it has exceeded the July target. “The revenue target for the month of July was ₹116.68 crore and we made 117.59 crore. As a result, we have somewhat been able to make up for revenue lost in May and June this quarter and have achieved 96% of the quarterly target. The target for this quarter was 487 crore and we made 470 crore,” said Singh. He added that the revenue in July 2022 has seen a 30% increase compared to July 2021.