Telangana: At Rs 160 crore in 22 days, liquor sales hit dizzy heights in Munugode

HYDERABAD: Liquor is flowing like water in Munugode ahead of the hotly-contested bypoll and sales have touched record highs. By the time polling ends on November 3, liquor sales may well go past Rs 300 crore in the constituency. An astronomical jump, considering the average monthly sales is around Rs 25 crore to Rs 30 crore.
For starters, from October 1 to 22, liquor worth Rs 160 crore has already been sold in the assembly segment alone. It has surpassed what the entire Nalgonda district - in which Munugode falls - would sell in a month. On an average, Nalgonda registers liquor sale of Rs 134 crore in 22 days in a month.
There are approximately 25 wine shops and numerous belt shops, and almost all have seen sales increase in tandem with the rising political temperature. Even before the poll date was announced, liquor worth over Rs 36 crore was sold in Munugode - well above the Rs 25 crore for the same month last year.
By the end of October it is expected that liquor sale in Munugode would touch Rs 250 crore, which could rise anywhere between Rs 50 and Rs 100 crore in the two days before polling, according to market observers. Sale has been high in Munugode mandal and low in the recently created Gattuppal mandal.
The constituency has seven mandals — Gattuppal, Choutuppal, Munugode, Samsthan Narayanpur, Marriguda, Nampally, and Chandur. According to sources, parties mostly organised liquor to be distributed through shops and did not give it directly to people.
“They have accounts with shops and each party worker or resident is given a fixed number of pegs on a daily basis. The cash accounts would be closed later,” a source said.