When the ban on the sale of liquor was lifted on the first day of the lockdown, business was on a great hype.

New Delhi: When the ban on the sale of liquor was lifted on the first day of the lockdown, business was on a great hype. In UP, liquor worth Rs 300 crore was sold in one day and in Rajasthan, it was sold for Rs 59 crore in just two hours.

PhotoIn Chhattisgarh too, liquor worth Rs 35 crore was sold yesterday. There was a long line at liquor stores since morning.

On Monday, a long line of people was seen in the lockdown when liquor stores reopened. Liquor shops were closed in many places after a huge crowd in Delhi.

Not only has the Delhi government increased the price of liquor by 70 per cent, but Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal himself became angered by the attitude of the people.

Why did the government decide to open liquor stores in Corona amid public health concerns?

File photo The answer is statistics. 2 lakh 48 thousand crore, this figure is the revenue of the state governments from the sale of liquor in the year 2019. A portion of the price of a bottle of liquor is excise tax. All this excise tax goes to the state exchequer. Liquor sales revenue in 2017 was Rs 1.99 lakh crore, 2.17 lakh crore in 2018 and Rs. 2.48 lakh crore in 2019.

The average government earns Rs 700 crore every day from the sale of liquor. Speaking of the 40-day lockdown, the government has incurred a loss of Rs 28,000 crore. Delhi earns Rs 500 crore every month from excise tax.

The monthly revenue from the Maharashtra Excise Department is Rs 2,000 crore, 2166 crore from UP, 833 crore from Madhya Pradesh and 650 crore from Rajasthan.

File photoLet's say that about 20 to 30% of the government's revenue comes from the sale of liquor so every government wants to keep the liquor store open.

Keeping your body healthy is important from fighting with corona. Alcohol weakens the body but still the government decided to open liquor shops. The question now is whether governments will now play with people's health to make money?