Thanks to Madhu Menon ( @madmanweb ), I found a TOI link on higher liquor costs in Mumbai.
Talk of high spirits — beer and hard liquor will cost 40-60% more in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra. The alcoholic beverage industry is reworking costs steeply following the excise duty increase in the latest state budget. In a first, the price of popular beers such as Kingfisher Premium will cross Rs 100 per bottle, while Scotch whisky brands like Johnnie Walker Black Label and Chivas Regal 12 Years-Old will hit a new high at over Rs 4,300 a quart, costlier by almost Rs 900.
Booze is banned in neighbouring Gujarat. The bar owners in Belgaum and Goa will be celebrating. The politicians have enough money, the bureaucrats have club memberships where there’s hugely subsidized alcohol, and the cops will just demand bottles as hafta. The guys who suffer are the hoi polloi, the ploretariat, the common man, the average guy who goes to a bar for that drink before a packed-like-sardines train ride home. You have targeted exactly the right people, dear Government of Maharashtra, because you see, they don’t protest.
In the words of the immortal Deep Purple:
"This may seem like a devilish ploy, but it’s one way to bring the proceedings to an end".
