Journalism of Courage
Last year,about 2 lakh people procured one-day permits for liquor consumption
THE State Excise Department which issues permits under the Bombay Prohibition Act,1949 has a record of just 3,323 persons who took permanent liquor licence last year. As many as 8,376 persons had sought for permits. The 12 excise departments had issued 2 lakh permits for Pune district.
It is very difficult to keep a tab on the daily liquor permits and there are many who do not adhere to the rules. The people partying at the Maya Restaurant-cum-Lounge have definitely not sought the required permit under the act. It is very difficult to keep a tab on all persons consuming liquor without permits, A B Chaskar,superintendent of Excise,Pune district,said.
According to the Act under Section 70 (b) which mentions purchase,possession,transport,use and consumption of liquor the individual has to have the permit. The permits are issued for a day,a year and for a lifetime. It is Rs 5 for a day,Rs 100 for a year and Rs 1000 for a lifetime, the officer said. With just 12 offices and nearly 1,400 permit rooms,the checks conducted may not be enough,he said.
According to the act,a person consuming liquor should have a permit. For this the ID proof,residential proof and two photos are required, he said. Each of the 12 offices in the city gets around 12-15 requests for permits while the monthly estimate is around 700 for various categories.
At present,the district has 1,400 permit rooms of which 333 are for country liquor,256 for foreign liquor,240 for foreign liquor which is mainly wine and 571 for beer shoppee.
On acquiring the permit,one can possess and transport 12 units of liquor (both country and foreign),where 1 unit is equivalent to 750 ml in case of hard liquor,1,500 ml for wine and 2,600 ml in case of beer and mild liquor. The punishment for not possessing a permit could range from a fine of Rs 50,000 to five years in jail or both.
