Bengaluru: Days of placing order for liquor online may soon become a reality. Excise Minister H. Nagesh has said that a Committee headed by the Excise Commissioner Lokesh has been constituted to study the proposal and to submit a report on its pros and cons.

With this, the Minister has given a fresh lease of life to the proposal that was mooted by the Minister at the time of assuming office last year. But the idea was subsequently dropped in the wake of widespread criticism.

Talking to reporters here yesterday, he said that online sale of liquor was in vogue in Maharashtra, Punjab and other States. The Committee will visit those two States to study its functioning and then submit a report to him. Then it will be taken up before Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for final decision.

“Some individuals hesitate to go liquor shops to buy liquor openly. It will be easy for them to place order online so that it is delivered at their doorstep. We are not in a hurry to implement it. It will be introduced only after the receipt of the Committee report”.

Action: The Minister said that permission to re-open bars and restaurants, pubs has been given only after imposing strict guidelines and violation of it any sort will be dealt seriously. 

The Department was expecting a daily income of Rs. 80 crore from bars and restaurants and pubs. For current fiscal, the Government has fixed a target of Rs. 24,000 crore for the Excise Department.