Amravati: In an interesting development, a Excise Minister K S Jawahar in Andhra Pradesh today has dubbed ‘Beer’ as a healthy drink during a regional television channel talk show.
Jawahar said beer is healthier than other types of liquor because it has lesser percentage of alcohol, and therefore, the government should promote its consumption more than other forms of alcohol.
“We cannot change people’s drinking habits but we can at least try to make available drinks that have less alcohol,” Jawahar said while participating in a talk show on a regional TV channel to discuss Andhra Pradesh’s new excise policy.
The new excise policy came into effect on July 1. The state cabinet also decided to denotify portions of highways passing through cities as urban or major district roads, removing them from the ambit of the Supreme Court guidelines.
The state government also plans to set up round the clock ‘beer parlors’ attracting foreigners to tourism spots in the state.
The minister said, “We took the decision to re-designate highways passing through cities after studying the policies of Odisha, West Bengal, Karnataka, Telangana, and Rajasthan.”
