KOLKATA: Getting hold of your favourite bottle of tipple will not be a problem at least till July as the excise department has decided to renew the licences of liquor wholesalers and bonders for another four months.The decision follows a meeting between liquor wholesalers and top officials of the state finance and excise department last week. In a proposal, the wholesalers also requested the government to adopt a Karnataka-type multi-layer distribution system that wouldn't make them redundant. Officials indicated the state wouldn't do anything that is drastically against market forces. "The excise department has already sent mails to some distributors for renewal of licence for four months. This is a welcome step," a liquor distributor said.The prospect of a shortage in supply arose when the government formed the West Bengal State Beverages Corporation to take over the wholesale trade of IMFL and cou-ntry spirits from April. The uncertainty over the past month had led to shortage of premium and semi-premium liquors in the market. Both distributors and retailers of IMFL had complained that the transition period had led to a shortage of liquor ahead of Holi, when consumption and demand escalate.In their compromise formula, the liquor distributors have suggested that the WBSBC sell its stock to registered traders, who in turn would supply liquor to retailers. "We hope this system works. Normally, corporations have to provide market retailers with margins ranging from 9% to 15%. However, in our proposed system, the government doesn't need to increase margin to the retailers since wholesalers remain in the system," a bonder added.In the last meeting before Holi, the government had asked the distributors to resume normal supply to the retailers, which they had agreed to do. The wholesalers' association had also sought a rehabilitation package for liquor distributors and the government had asked the association to prepare a scheme.Currently, the distributors have around Rs 400 crore due to the retailers. There are about 10 manufacturing units engaged in production of IMFL in the state and 109 licenced private distributors who supply to the retailers. According to the association, the distributors engage about 5,000 people directly and about 12,000 indirectly.

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