Recently Uttar Pradesh government’s Cabinet has given their nod to a few important decisions. Among them is the nod given to the liquor makers to set up microbreweries in the state. On a lighter note, this is a golden opportunity for Uttar Pradesh to create their own Goa (minus the beaches of course).
The Power Minister and chief spokesperson of Uttar Pradesh government, Shrikant Sharma informed the reporters about the same. To quote his address, ‘On the lines of states like Karnataka, Maharashtra etc, microbreweries shall be set up in various hotels, restaurants and liquor bars of the state. The Uttar Pradesh Breweries Act shall be amended for the same.’
Apart from that, the government has approved for the demolition of 78 dilapidated government quarters in order to set up an AIIMS in Raebareli, hiking of the monthly old age pensions. Not only that, the SGPGI’s resident doctors will now have a maximum age limit of 37 years instead of the previous age limit of 35 years. Shrikant Sharma has also told the journalists that microbreweries have been permitted earlier in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana, Delhi NCR, Telangana etc.
The decision has been permitted officially by the state CM Yogi Adityanath as well. But what is a microbrewery? How will Uttar Pradesh benefit from this. Microbrewery is used popularly in many hotels, restaurants and liquor bars for instant production of beer. Since beer is in high demand in metropolitan cities like Noida, Ghaziabad etc, the government has agreed to implement the same.
According to Shrikant Sharma, the new license for producing fresh beer through the microbrewery will require a payment of Rs. 2.5 lakhs, a tenfold increase from the previous amount of Rs. 2 lakhs. On an everyday basis, the new license holder can produce 600 liters of beer, which can increase up to 2.10 lakh liters of beer per year. Anyone who violates the new provisions shall be fined on the basis of 5000 rupees per day.
According to the government, this move shall increase the number of international and domestic tourists. Not only shall the government receive adequate revenue, but also the microbreweries shall increase new avenues for employment in the state. Apart from that, this decision shall also fund the much touted cow corpus scheme of UP government, currently devising on ingenious schemes to protect stray cows. To sum it up, this one decision can achieve many targets in one go.
The only sad aspect of this fresh, frothing and bubbly news is that it will be like a cruel joke to the people of Bihar. Bihar is a dry state and Uttar Pradesh Government’s beer friendly policy is going to make them very sad.