Liquor bottles in Goa to carry holograms

PANAJI: In a bid to certify the originality of liquor, the Excise Department in Goa has decided to soon introduce holograms on the liquor bottles manufactured in the state.

Such a measure is being put in place to ensure that tourists are not sold spurious or adulterated liquor in the state, Excise Commissioner P S Reddy said.

"The hologram will be a multi-coloured seal that would be tamper-proof and will be pasted on the bottle at the manufacturing facility itself," he said, adding that each kind of liquor will have a unique hologram.

"If the hologram is removed, it will be denigrated into pieces," Reddy said.

The state government, which has invited tenders for manufacturing the holograms, has sent the samples to IIT Delhi to check the quality of the labels.

Goa, which attracts around 24 lakh tourists every year, is a favourite liquor destination with the availability of inexpensive liquor across the state.

Reddy said that the state manufactures around 3 lakh boxes of liquor every month, of which, only 50 per cent is consumed locally while the rest is exported to other states.

Locally, most of the liquor sale is through restaurants, he said.

After being hit by an excise scam which resulted in the loss of revenue, the state government has already introduced multi-coloured coded permits. The department has also fixed validity for the permits.

Reddy said that colour of the permit changes every month so that no one can duplicate them.

The department also produces monthly statements of import and export of liquor and they are cross-checked with the states where the consignments are sent, he added.