Mumbai, March 21: As though sweltering without power were not enough, the people of Maharashtra will now have to fork out more money for a swig or to watch cable TV. Thank state finance minister Jayant Patil.

In a bid to mop up Rs 500 crore in taxes, Patil today hiked excise duty on country liquor, Indian made foreign liquor and mild beer and raised entertainment duty on cable TV by 50 per cent.

Starting April 1, the excise duty on mild beer per bulk litre would be raised to Rs 15 from Rs 12. The duty on Indian made foreign liquor would be Rs 160 per proof litre (from Rs 150) and on country liqu- or Rs 55 per proof litre (from Rs 50.20).

It is estimated that beer prices may go up at the retail level by Rs 5 per bottle. Maharashtra has the second largest market for beer after Andhra Pradesh.

The 50 per cent hike in entertainment duty is likely to be passed on to cable TV viewers who now shell out anything between Rs 250-300 a month.

There were more surprises in store for the people in the seventh successive budget Patil presented. He hiked water charges by 15 per cent for both irrigation and non-irrigation purposes, despite the spate in farmer suicides.

There was bad news for four-wheeler owners as well, with motor vehicle tax being raised to 7 per cent from 4 per cent. Patil blamed it on the July 26 deluge that wrecked roads.

If there was any element of cheer in Patil’s proposals, it was that buying a house would get a little cheaper. Stamp duty was cut from 0.5 per cent to a flat of Rs 100 for the first Rs 2.5 lakh.

Duty on purchase of shares was brought down by 50 per cent.

Projecting a revenue surplus of Rs 305.85 crore for 2006-07, Patil said the state’s gross domestic product would rise by 8.6 per cent for the next financial year.