The legal age to drink in Delhi will now be 21, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Monday. He said there would be no government liquor stores in Delhi, and no new liquor shops will not be opened in the national capital. Earlier, the legal age to consume liquor in Delhi was 25.
"The new excise policy was approved by the Cabinet today on basis of the recommendations of the Group of Ministers. It was decided that no new liquor shops will be opened in the national capital and the government will not run any liquor shops. At present, 60 per cent liquor shops in Delhi are run by the government," Sisodia said at a press conference.
"Government will ensure equitable distribution of liquor shops so that liquor mafia are thrown out of the trade. A revenue growth of 20 per cent is estimated after the reforms in excise department," he added.
Excise department officials said higher legal drinking age was the "prime" reason behind the young generation in Delhi visiting NCR towns like Noida where it is permissible to serve alcohol to those aged 21 years. "This also meant loss of significant amount of revenue as those youngsters having disposable income as professionals go outside Delhi to buy liquor and have it at bars and hotels in Noida and other cities in neighbouring states," said a senior Excise department officer.
The Section 42 of the Delhi Excise Act, 2009, explicitly bars the licence holder or any person acting on his behalf to sell or deliver liquor to any person apparently under the age of twenty five years.
The Excise department expects to mop up an increased revenue of Rs 1,500-2,000 crore per annum following implementation of the reforms approved by the Delhi Cabinet.
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