Now, POS machines to check sale of spurious liquor in UP

Lucknow, Aug 29 (IANS) In an attempt to check the sale of spurious liquor in Uttar Pradesh, the excise department will soon be installing point of sale (POS) machines in liquor shops.

The department has chosen beer shops as a pilot project in the first phase.

The system would be installed in about 7,500 beer shops across the state in the next two months. Once installed, each bottle of beer -- and liquor, in the later stage being sold from the liquor shops -- would be scanned through the POS machine installed at the shop concerned.

As soon as the Quick Response (QR) code is scanned by the machine, all the details about the bottle concerned would be transferred to the server of the excise department.

"Every bottle of beer produced in the state comes with the QR code and now when the sale would be possible only after scanning the bottle under POS machine, there would be no chance of sale of spurious liquor. At the same time, the department would be getting the exact information of the liquor, right from the production and up to the sale to the consumer", said an excise official.

In the last few years, a number of people have lost their lives by drinking spurious liquor.

Beer shops are relatively few in numbers and as such the department has opted to install the POS machine in the first phase at these shops in the state.

In the second phase, POS machines will be installed at liquor shops and in the third phase at country liquor shops too.

After installing the machine, it will be mandatory for the shopkeeper to scan and sell the liquor bottle from the machine. As soon as it is scanned, the full details of its sale along with the name of the shop, bottle make, its serial number, etc. would be transferred to the data bank of the department.

Apart from checking the sale of spurious liquor, the system is so designed that liquor, allotted for sale from one shop, could not be sold from another shop.

As soon as the QR code is scanned, the department would come to know for which shop the liquor was allotted from the warehouse. If the sale is done to another shop, then action can be taken against the shopkeeper.