Mumbai, June 1 (IANS) The Maharashtra government must rollback its ‘ridiculous’ decision to hike the minimum age for consuming liquor, various bar owners’ associations demanded Wednesday.
‘The liquor industry is already facing crisis after the hike in liquor prices. This is adding to our troubles,’ said Manjit Singh Sethi, president of the Fight for Rights of Bar Owners Association of Maharashtra.
In an attempt to discourage youngsters from consuming alcohol, the state government Wednesday raised the minimum age for drinking beer from 18 to 21 and hard liquor from 21 to 25.
Sethi said the Maharashtra government earned a revenue of Rs.15,000 crore per annum from the liquor industry.
‘Hiking the drinking age and suppressing the industry is not in anybody’s interest,’ he said.
Sethi also said the move will be flouted blatantly.
‘I am sure a person below 25 years, when caught buying liquor, will offer bribe to the concerned officer,’ he said.
Sudhakar Shetty, president of the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association of Maharashtra, said: ‘If one can be given voting rights at 18, why can’t one be giving drinking rights?’
‘Is it not a pity that one who has become of marriageable age at 21 can’t even drink at his own bachelor’s party,’ he asked.
Mumbai has around 2,300 restaurants and bars and nearly 250 orchestra bars.
Several youngsters too ridiculed the new law.
‘It is a gimmick on the part of the state. It is trying to be a protectionist state, but in actuality it is a pretentious state. The government’s machinery is weak and it will not be able to keep a check on bars and wine shops that sell these drinks. Such laws are just too superficial to work,’ said 20-year-old student Chirag Thakkar.
Twenty one-year-old Vineet Ullal, a social media strategist, said there was no point in putting such restrictions.
‘I am a social drinker and if it is a law, I would abide by it. A 21-year-old in this age and time is already a working professional and knows his responsibilities well. What is the point of such restrictions,’ he asked.
Announcing the move earlier in the day, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan denied that it was an attempt at moral policing by the state and said the decision was taken unanimously by the state cabinet.
