Puducherry has hiked prices of all kinds of liquor by 20 per cent. New prices will come into effect from 15 July, informed the Excise Department on Wednesday.
In April this year, the Puducherry administration had revoked the 7.5 % special Covid duty on liquor, enabling a drop in rates of alcohol in the tourism dependent union territory.
Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundaranjan has approved the excise department’s proposal to bring to close the validity of the special excise duty with effect from April 7.
The move made liquor products cheaper in Puducherry. The special duty was imposed in May last year to bring the price on par with the rates in neighboring states and to prevent the influx of people into Puducherry, especially from Tamil Nadu, during the pandemic situation.
The then LG Kiran Bedi, who imposed the duty despite opposition by then CM, had extended it periodically. But the duty was withdrawn to make liquor cheaper to net revenue to the fund-starved exchequer.
While withdrawing the special duty, the LG had directed that all bars and retail sellers of liquor and restaurants to follow safety norms. The lifting of special duty had been done after getting the Election commission clearance, a press release from the office of the Lt. Governor had said.