The Union Territory of Puducherry has hiked prices of all kinds of liquor by 20% with the Excise Department saying that the new rates will come into effect from July 15, Thursday. In April this year, the Puducherry administration had rescinded a 7.5% special COVID-19 duty on liquor in the Union Territory, enabling a cut in the rates of alcoholic beverages in the tourism-dependent region.
The special duty was first imposed in May 2020, so as to ensure that the prices were increased in Puducherry, and were on par with those of neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, to prevent an influx of people amid the pandemic situation.
Despite opposition by then Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, then Lt Governor Kiran Bedi imposed the duty and periodically extended it. However, the move in April this year to rescind the duty made liquor products cheaper, and was seen as an attempt by Puducherry to rake in more revenue as it was hit by the pandemic. The administration however, is yet to officially clear its stand on its latest move to hike the rates of liquor again by 20%. Further details are awaited.
In another development, Puducherry will open schools for students of classes 9 to 12 and all colleges, including professional colleges, from July 16. Schools and colleges in Puducherry central, Karaikal, Yanam, and Mahe will be opened due to the falling COVID-19 cases and the speeding-up of vaccination.
Puducherry registered 121 fresh COVID-19 cases during the latest 24-hour period ending at 9 am on Wednesday, taking the overall tally in the Union Territory to 1.19 lakh. One more person succumbed to infection raising the toll to 1,772. The 121 new cases were spread over Puducherry (93) and Karaikal (18), while Mahe and Yanam regions reported five new cases each.
Director of the Department S Mohan Kumar said there were 1,327 active cases of whom 246 patients were undergoing treatment in hospitals and the remaining 1,081 patients were in home isolation. The test positivity rate was 1.99% while fatality and recovery rates were 1.49% and 97.40%, the Director said.
On the vaccination front, 37,646 health care workers and 22,944 front line workers have been vaccinated so far. The Health Department has inoculated 4.35 lakh people belonging to the category of senior citizens or those above 45 years with co-morbidities. Kumar said so far 6.14 lakh people have been covered under the vaccination programme in the Union Territory.
With IANS and PTI inputs