<span style="color: #222222;">Jharkhand government has come out with three-way retail sale of liquor in the state from today. Roping in e-commerce sites like Zomato and Swiggy for home delivery of liquor in urban areas and incorporating e-token system at 15 district headquarters, and counter sale in rural-area based shops, the state government has given a nod to re-open all authorised liquor shops from 7 in the morning to 7 in the evening in Jharkhand.<br />''<br />''Secretary, Excise Department Vinay Kumar Chaubey in a press statement said that the retail sale of liquor will start from today with an additional Special Excise Duty fee of 10 percent to be levied over MRP to cope up with the revenue deficits due to Corona. A gazette notification of revising VAT from 50 percent to 75 percent on liquor has been released by the Commercial Taxes department yesterday. Mr Chaubey also stated that retail sale of liquor will be facilitated through e-commerce sites of Zomato and Swiggy in nine urban areas of the state including Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Deoghar, Giridih, Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, Ramgarh and Palamu.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, incorporating e-token system for sale of liquor in districts headquarters and urban areas through the link - </span><a href="https://jhexcisetoken.nic.in/" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jhexcisetoken.nic.in&source=gmail&ust=1590035246815000&usg=AFQjCNFa8tOZ6o2Oj0DoyhAIBfxrrfWK9g">https://jhexcisetoken.nic.in</a><span style="color: #222222;"> will help reduce people line up in long queues outside the liquor shops. Mr Chaubey said use of e-token system is part of the digital initiative to boost the economy and also capable to contain the spread of Corona virus. Any person can book a time slot which would be of an hour long duration as per his/her convenience to purchase liquor from shops thus reducing queues. Preference would be given to people shopping through e-token systems.<br />''<br />''The state government has already permitted the retail sale of liquor through authorised shops as per the guidelines outlined in the fourth phase of lockdown orders by Disaster Management department. Later to this, state Excise department in its notification has asked the shop-owners to reopen the liquor shops across the state from today, with revised price-list of the commodity being sent to the shop-owners.</span><br />