Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to focus on providing alternative livelihood opportunities to the people involved in manufacturing of illicitly distilled (ID) liquor.
Addressing a review meeting on the ‘revenue-generating departments’ at his camp office at Tadepalli near here on July 17 (Monday), Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy stressed the need for creating awareness on the ill-effects of brewing, selling and consuming ID liquor. “It is equally necessary to provide alternative livelihood options to the manufacturers of ID liquor,” he said.
The officials informed the Chief Minister that liquor sales have come down to 335.98 lakh cases in 2022-23 financial year from 384.36 lakh cases in 2018-19 fiscal. The beer sales also came down to 116.76 lakh cases from 277.16 lakh cases during the same period.
The sales of beer and liquor in the first three months of this fiscal year came down by 56.51 % and 5.28% respectively when compared to that of the corresponding period in 2018-19 fiscal, they said.
The revenue of the Registrations Department till July 15 last financial year was put at ₹2291.97 crore and it went up to ₹2793.70 crore in the corresponding period this fiscal year. The registration services have begun in villages where resurvey of land has been completed and 5,000 registrations were done so far at village secretariats, fetching revenue of ₹8.03 crore, they said.
The officials further said that GST revenue (apart from compensation) of ₹7,653.15 crore had been generated in the first three months of the present fiscal, posting an increase of 23.74% over the corresponding period in the last fiscal. “In the first three months, we have achieved up to 91% of the target,” they said.
Mining revenue
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) has been generating more revenue from Mangampeta Barytes reserves and Suliyari coal block, which is expected to produce 5 million tonnes of coal this year. The APMDC’s revenue went up to ₹1806 crore in 2022-23 ficsal from ₹502 crore in 2020-21, the officials said, adding that it was expected to reach the ₹4,000-crore mark in 2023-24 financial year.
“The revenue of these departments has gone up in the last four years due to the implementation of policies with transparency and introduction of reforms and plugging of loopholes,” said teh Chief Minister.
Vehicle tax policies
Reviewing the performance of Transport Department, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the best vehicle tax policies were the need of the hour. Introducing reforms and implementing new policies after carefully studying the tax policies in vogue in other States was necessary. “The new policies should be the best in the country to encourage vehicle buyers,” he said, adding that the revenue-generating departments should involve the District Collectors more in the implementation of policies.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy also suggested that the finance and other departments should hold review meetings with the District Collectors periodically to strengthen the revenue-generating mechanism, plug loopholes and create more awareness on the policies.
Home Minister T. Vanita, Municipal Administration Minister A. Suresh, Special Chief Secretaries Neerabh Kumar Prasad (Environment, Forest, Science & Technology), Y. Srilakshmi (MA &UD), Rajat Bhargava (Excise, Registration and Stamps), S.S. Rawat (Finance) and Gopalakrishna Dwivedi (Mines and Geology), Principal Secretary Harish Kumar Gupta (Home), Transport Secretary Pradyumna, Transport Commissioner M.K. Sinha, Finance Secretary N. Guljar, Chief Commissioner (Commercial Taxes) M. Girija Sankar, Prohibition & Excise Commissioner Vivek Yadav, Municipal Administration Commissioner Koteswara Rao, Stamps & Registrations Commissioner Ramakrishna, A.P. Beverages Corporation MD Vasudeva Reddy and Mines Director V.G. Venkata Reddy were also present in the review meeting.
