Mangala cheers rethink of alcohol policy

• Urges relaxing of liquor shop closure on Poya days, Christmas Day 
• Wants to reduce distillery licence fee from Rs. 100 m to Rs. 1 m
• Points out higher taxes on alcohol fuels rise in ‘Kassippu’ consumption

 Looking at amending a key election pledge, the Government is considering relaxing laws on alcohol sales and consumption witnessed on Poya day and the day before Poya, a top Minister told Parliament yesterday.  

According to Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera, such a move could help the Government to harness artificial sales and control illegal activities.

Minister Samaraweera, moving a notification under the Excise Ordinance to reduce the distillery licence fee of Rs. 100 million to Rs. 1 million, told Parliament that laws pertaining to the opening of liquor shops should be reconsidered. 

“Liquor consumption is high on Poya days regardless of the laws preventing sales. The owners of supermarkets and bars told me that liquor sales go up on the day prior to Poya. By preventing sales, we have created a black market for liquor sales on Poya days. We have banned the sale of liquor even on Christmas Day. December is the peak tourist season of the country. It is time we reconsider these outdated laws. For example, Thailand is a Buddhist country, but they close bars and taverns only on the day of the General Elections which comes once in about 5-6 years,” he said, also proposing to relax laws on beer and wine as an attempt to discourage illicit liquor. 

According to the Minister, through a budgetary proposal in 2016, the distillery license fee (except for palmyrah arrack) was increased from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 100 million and the license fee for manufacturing liquor was increased from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 50 million. 

“However, small and medium scale manufacturers complained that they could not afford the sharp increase. Several fundamental rights petitions were filed in the Supreme Court against the move. The Supreme Court suspended enforcing the revised license fees till the hearing ended. Therefore, the reduction of licence fees with effect from 1 January 2017 will not result in any loss of revenue for the Government due from 15 distilleries and 24 liquor manufacturing companies in the country,” he told the House.

“Consumption of illegal liquor is a problem. It was revealed that the consumption of ‘kassippu’ goes up as we increase the duty on liquor. We cannot forcefully reduce liquor consumption. Instead, we can give more relief to certain types of liquor which cause considerably less damage to humans,” he added. (AH)