Haryana's new excise policy imposes ₹5 cow cess on liquor bottles

The new excise policy approved by the Haryana Cabinet has introduced ₹5 'cow' per bottle of liquor to generate funds for cow welfare in the state.

The new excise duty policy was approved in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday evening. Under the new policy, a retail permit fee will be levied on the sale of liquor and the fee will be collected from the liquor vendors through the sale of bottles. Officials said they are aiming to collect Rs 400 crore this fiscal.

Puran Yadav, vice-chairman of the Haryana Gau Seva Aayog, said the funds would be used to build cow shelters on panchayat land. “At present, there are 650 cow shelters in the state, including 23 in Gurugram, where about 500,000 stray cattle are housed. Our aim is to double the capacity to house the cattle rescued from rescues carried out throughout the year. We will link the gaushalas with the GOBARdhan scheme under which biogas plants will be built in every district,” he said.

Yadav said the aim is to ensure that there are no stray cattle on the roads within six months. "We want better medical facilities and quality feed for cattle. We plan to equip all the cow sheds and cow vans with the latest equipment and employ more sevaks to look after the cattle,” he said. Ayog also has big expansion plans to increase the production of natural dye from cow dung. There are two paint shops in Faridabad and Gurugram and the government plans to set up 10 more across the state.

Yadav said he will involve women self-help groups in making compost with colors and worms from cow dung, which will promote employment opportunities at the district level. "The ₹400 crore was decided after factoring in all infrastructure costs and after several meetings with the Chief Minister," he said.

Jawahar Yadav, Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of the Haryana Chief Minister, said cow protection is a high priority for the government with a 300-member police force created for the same under an IPS-level officer. “We plan to build veterinary hospitals in every district. We have plans for biogas and solar power plants in all the cow sheds apart from the organic manure plants and paint shops,” he said.