#Foul #Liquor #policy
The decision by the Kerala government to charge an extra ₹20 per liquor bottle, after already raising prices by 10% months ago, is a harsh and foolish move. It will hit ordinary people the most especially daily wage workers and the poor who seek small pleasures in life.
Liquor is already heavily taxed, and this additional charge, without any improvement in service or product, is nothing but exploitation. When someone buys a product, the price includes everything, we don't pay separately for the bottle, cap, or label. Why should it be any different for liquor?
Kerala is slowly turning into a state where the government survives on liquor and lottery money taken from poor people. Instead of reforming the system or promoting better habits, the government is squeezing every drop out of the common man.
It is shameful that BEVCO shows huge losses despite selling liquor worth crores every day. This actually points to corruption and mismanagement.
Making drinkers pay for a bottle in parts is a cheap trick. If this continues, the government will soon ask people to pay separately for the cork, the paper seal, and even the barcode. This foolish policy reduces people to donkeys carrying the burden of the state’s failure.
-K A Solaman
