The two Telugu states are known for their over-the-top celebrations of the Pongal festival with gambling, cock fights, and alcohol. The AP Govt according to the latest reports has seen a new high in terms of liquor sales.
The three consecutive festivals Bhogi, Sankranti, and Kanuma mark the first set of huge holidays in India, especially in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Like every year, the AP Government gave a few permissions to cock fights and gambling and that resulted in a heavy exchange of money in crores of rupees unofficially. But the real contribution to the AP Government in the name of the excise tax is alcohol. This time, the entire AP reportedly generated a tax of more than 200 crores of rupees in just three days of the festival even surpassing the alcohol famous Telangana. Analysts are in awe at seeing such figures even with the government’s local and low-quality brands in AP.
Even though the consumption of alcohol is more in Telangana, the fact that some enthusiastic people came all the way from there to AP to witness the gambling and cock fights contributed big to the recorded amounts in this festival season.