Kerala Drank Liquor Worth Rs 150 Crore In Two Days On Christmas
Liquor sales have broken another record in Kerala as the state saw the sale of alcohol worth over 150 crores in the two days of Christmas.
According to figures issued by the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (BEVCO), the combined sale of liquor on December 24 and 25 amounted to Rs 150.38 crores.
Out of this, BEVCO which controls the retail sales of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer in the state sold liquor and beer worth Rs 65.88, on Christmas eve, while Kerala State Cooperatives Consumers' Federation (Consumerfed) outlets sold Rs 11.5 crore.
This was almost Rs 10 crore more than the sales figures on the same day in 2020.
On Christmas day, BEVCO recorded sales of Rs 65 crore, Consumerfed accounted for Rs 8 crore.
A BEVCO outlet at the heart of the state capital city Power House road on December 24 sold a record Rs 73 lakhs worth of liquor.
Among the Consumerfed outlets, Kodungallur reported the highest Christmas Eve sale of Rs 54.5 lakh.
The sales figures for the four days until Christmas stood at Rs 215 crores.?
This however is not the all-time high. Just a few months ago, during the Onam festival in August liquor worth as much as Rs 750 crore was sold in Kerala.
Rs 750 crore worth liquor sale in ten days (August 11-21) is an all-time high, according to BevCo.
The highest single-day sale was on August 20, the day of Utharadam a day before Onam when Rs 85 crore worth of liquor was sold.
Around 32.9 lakh people out of the 3.34 crore population in the state consume liquor, which includes 29.8 lakh men and 3.1 lakh women.
Around five lakh people in Kerala consume liquor on a daily basis. Of this, around 83,851 people including 1,043 women are addicted to alcohol, according to state government statistics.
Earlier this year, after the lockdown restrictions were lifted, long queues outside liquor outlets in Kerala had made headlines.
It had also invited criticism from various corners, including from the Kerala High Court which blasted the government and said necessary steps should be taken to ensure that liquor is sold in a decent manner.
"You seem to be selling your product, not like a commodity, but like contraband. Though there was an order to provide adequate facilities in 2017, the government has not taken any action. There is a systemic failure on this issue," the court had said.
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