Raj Thackeray demands opening of wine shops in Maharashtra

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder Raj Thackeray has demanded that state government should open wine shops in order to boost revenue of the state.

In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's office, his cousin and political rival said that the economy of the state has suffered a huge loss due to the COVID-19 lockdown since March 22.

“No one knows how long will this continue and when exactly the lockdown end. By opening wine shops, the state will start getting revenue flow. There is no harm in keeping this option open. Opening wine shops doesn't mean that we are catering to the needs of alcohol consumers only. The only reason behind this is to start the process of income flow back into shrinking revenues of our state," Raj Thackeray wrote in his letter.

Maharashtra earns approximately of Rs 1,250 crore per month from liquor sales. Annually, the figure is around Rs 16,000 crore. Rapid urbanisation and increasing availability of disposable income has led to an increase in sale of liquor in Maharashtra. Health Minister Rajesh Tope has already said that if the state government decides to keep wine shops open for a certain period every day, it will be done only after wine shop owners assure the government that social distancing rules will be followed.

In his letter, Raj Thackeray has also said that prohibition was not in force in Maharashtra earlier, and so, “now I am demanding that it be lifted for the sake of revenue”.

" Liquor was sold in Maharashtra before the lockdown. Hence, now is not the time to debate morality of the decision to re-open wine shops. The fact is that Maharashtra needs the revenue that it gets from sale of liquor especially when its coffers are running dry and state is facing shortage of funds even to pay salary of government employees. Hence, Maharashtra needs the revenue that it earns from sale of liquor through wine shops," said the MNS founder in the letter.