News
Despite Mathata Thitha, more liquor licences issued in 2013
The Government’s much hyped “mathata thitha” policy to discourage liquor consumption may be in place but that has not stopped the Excise Department from issuing 62 new liquor licences last year. This is seven more than the number of licences issued in 2012, according to details in the Administrative Report of Excise Commissioner General D.G.M. Vasantha Hapuarachchi. The 2013 report was presented to Parliament this week.
The report says the new liquor licences have been restricted only for the institutions approved by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and that under the ‘present excise policy based on the policy frame of “Mahinda Chinthanaya”, the Excise Department takes necessary action to control the consumption of liquor and the use of cigarettes.
Between 2005 and 2013, since the Mahinda Chintanaya came into effect, nearly 500 new liquor licences have been issued.Meanwhile in 2013, the beginning of the second centenary of the Excise Department, Rs. 66,008 million had been collected as excise duties — an increase of 10% compared with 2012. Also in 2013, while the production of hard liquor showed a decrease of 11 per cent over the previous year, the soft liquor beer production had gone up by 21 per cent over 2012.