Calcutta, Feb.19 :    Calcutta, Feb.19:  The government on Monday cleared the decks for an additional 23 liquor shops in Calcutta and 12 for Howrah. A lottery was held to pick new licensees from among 4,800 applicants. Under the watchful eyes of the judges - two former sportsmen, P.K. Banerjee and Nikhil Nandy, and the head of the physics department of a city college, S.K. Dutta - lots were drawn at Girish Mancha to decide on additional liquor licensees for the twin cities. 'Nowhere in the country is such a transparent system at work to determine retail liquor and country spirit outlets,' said Arun Mishra, state excise commissioner. 'As far as I know, the outlets in other states are auctioned.' Calcutta and Howrah are going to get the new liquor shops after nearly 12 years. The government realised that no matter how hard it tries to control the number of outlets, the consumption of liquor will continue to rise across Bengal owing to several factors. A measure of the growth in consumption can be gauged from the fact that the government's excise earnings, currently estimated at about Rs 160 crore, are rising at the rate of 15 per cent a year. Liquor companies are reporting steady rise in sales. Though the lottery was held smoothly, the government will not publicise the names of the new licensees till the disposal of four cases now before Calcutta High Court and the state tax tribunal, Mishra said. The government will release nearly 250 new licences for India-made foreign liquor shops and country spirit vendors across Bengal. Mishra said the lotteries for determining new licensees in the districts would be held in phases in district headquarters in the coming days. For example, a lottery will be held on February 22 in Midnapore to decide on new licensees for Midnapore east, Midnapore west and Purulia. Similarly, a lottery on February 26 or 27 will decide on licensees for Darjeeling. By a quick estimate, the government's earnings from selling of application forms stand at Rs 1.25 crore.