While the tourist can buy his grog in every nook and cranny literally, your government earned a paltry Rs. 409.97 crore in 2017-18 from sales from a whopping 10,179 licences issued for all of Goa. In other words, there must be something seriously wrong here on an equally gigantic scale even if you take into account Goa’s low taxation rate on alcohol. For the record, Karnataka’s IMFL and beer sales revenue for 2017-18 was Rs 17,948.5 cr.

March 25, 2019

Lionel Messias


Bardez taluka had the highest number of liquor licences mid-third quarter in 2016. This was at the end of the four-and-half years of BJP rule when Laxmikant Parsekar (in the limelight these days, for all the wrong reasons again!) was the Chief Minister. He was also Excise Minister. How could he not be!

As on December 12, 2018 the figure for the number of retail sale licences for IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) and country liquor (CL) packed in bottles is 624 and 325, respectively. The figure for licences for retail sale for consumption is 1,969 (for both IMFL and CL) and for foreign liquor the figure is 574 (ie retail sale for consumption). Seven tavern licences were issued, 54 for IMFL wholesale, 29 wholesale country liquor licences, 28 wholesale foreign liquor licences, 5 distillery licences, 4 winery licences, 3 micro-brewery/pub brewery licences and 10 country liquor bottling licences were issued. Grand Total: 3,632.

For Salcette taluka the figure was 1,877 – the second highest – and for Tiswadi the figure was 1295.

Fun fact: While the tourist can buy his grog in every nook and cranny literally, your government earned a paltry Rs. 409.97 crore in 2017-18 from sales from a whopping 10,179 licences issued for all of Goa.

Fudging figures?

In other words, there must be something seriously wrong here on an equally gigantic scale even if you take into account Goa’s low taxation rate on alcohol. For the record, Karnataka’s IMFL and beer sales revenue for 2017-18 was Rs 17,948.5 cr. You can argue that Karnataka is a much bigger State with a much bigger population. But try and argue this; that Goa because of its low liquor taxation also attracts the worst kind of drunken tourists. That such a so-called tourist can buy alcohol every few hundred meters. A free-pass (virtually) no other State offers tourists.

Bacchus, the God of Bardez

This BJP government earned around Rs 16 lakh from liquor sales (through ‘occasional licences’) over the New Year period in 2017. Time Out 72 paid the highest amount at Rs 12 lakh for the three days December 27-29, 2017. In the three days over 50 occasional licences were issued. The fees were charged based on footfalls (anticipated!) and the venue fees. If this is not arbitrary, like guestimates I guess, what is? Because the Excise Department has a clerical mindset – it is not in the events management game.

The Gujarat firm’s Vagator event pulled in an estimated 55,000 people against earnings based purely on guestimates of Rs 12 lakh by the BJP government! Juxtapose that also against the Gujarat firm’s Rs 14,999 early bird VIP season pass, its Rs 5,999 phase 1 GA season pass, the regular and VIP day passes of between Rs 1,999 to Rs 6,999 and like me, you must really wonder Rs. 12 lakh, seriously! Something's not very right here. I also think the Tourism and Travel Association of Goa (TTAG) owes the Goan tax payer an explanation for consistently backing Electronic Dance Music (EDM) festivals despite the government’s stated reluctance not to permit them because of the drugs and garbage issues and over its dispute with at least one over outstanding dues of several crores.

Shack(ed) out

And Btw this is the same TTAG that has failed to back the shack operators which brings me to the raison d'être of this fortnight’s Lion Roars. Aren’t shacks among the several interest groups in Goa’s tourism industry? Why are successive BJP governments so against the shack operators despite having an alcohol policy for Goa diametrically opposed to its national policy.

This month the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) which is the government’s official terminator when it needs to bulldoze its way through forests and eco-sensitive areas; decided not to issue fresh temporary seasonal permissions to huts, shacks, tents and cottages in private properties or hotels in beach areas which in this case it conveniently considers as eco-sensitive (0-200 metres from the High Tide Line). I say conveniently, because this rule is applied only to this category of tourism operators. Nobody else.

Also the BJP government appears to be totally confused between ‘occasional’ licensing (referred to above) and the ‘seasonal’ application referred to here.

The GCZMA’s excuse is it is awaiting drafting and finalization of the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) which we all know is never going to happen any time soon. But by some miracle if the CZMP is in place, be assured it will only help the Big Players and not the small ones. And that too will be nothing new, it’s been this way for decades.