Andhra: 104 liquor licencees are BPL men

GUNTUR: As many as 104 out of the 342 liquor licences handed out in Guntur district are held by individuals who hold white ration cards. This was revealed in a preliminary enquiry conducted by the district supply department in the past few days upon a directive received from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). District supply officer (DSO)  Krishna Rao left for Hyderabad Tuesday to submit his preliminary enquiry report to the agency which is probing illegalities in the liquor trade statewide.Anti-Corruption Bureau director-general D Bhoopathi Babu had sent a list of 342 liquor shop dealers in Guntur district to the collector a few days ago, asking him to look into the antecedents of their holders. The probe was delegated to the DSO who sought the information from deputy tehsidars of the civil supply department. In Nizampatnam, the native mandal of excise minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, all the local liquor shops are owned by individuals ostensibly white ration card holders, joint collector N Yuvaraj  told Express. One of the liquor vend owners, Kokkilagadda Koteswara Rao is a close aide of the minister. He too has a white ration card (no wap075400500032). He is said to have paid Rs 2.4 lakh as income tax on income from his shop.