“Consumerfed has made a decision to sell liquor online”.
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Kerala State Co-operative Consumers Federation Ltd (Consumerfed), the apex body of the consumer co-operatives in the state, will sell liquor online for Onam. Mehaboob said that Consumerfed is surviving on the profits from its liquor outlets and the plan was to increase liquor sales and attract good customers through the online initiative As many as 59 new liquor brands will be made available at the outlets as part of efforts to increase sales. “We are also ready to open a liquor supermarket in Kozhikode if the government okays the proposal”, Mehboob told reporters.
He said it would be implemented only after discussions and getting clearance from the state government.
The move is aimed at doing away with the long queues that are the norm outside Bevco outlets in the State. Necessary policy changes are now being incorporated into the relevant statutes and an official declaration is to be made. “The order can be collected from a special counter at their nearest consumer fed outlet”, Consumerfed Chairman M Mehboob said. “We will take a decision when it comes before us”. The minister conceded it would help reduce long queues in front of liquor shops.
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The new proposal comes even as there are reports that the LDF government is likely to revisit the previous Congress-led UDF government’s excise policy aiming at total prohibition in phases over the next 10 years. The minister has asked for a change in the policy which he said has driven the state’s tourism industry, arguably its highest foreign exchange earner, into a “depressingly dire” situation.
