Calcutta: The liquor made from mahua flowers, a centuries-old traditional drink in the tribal belt of Bengal's western districts, will be available in the city in a few months.

The Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (Trifed), an organisation under the Centre's tribal affairs ministry, has decided to "mainstream" mahua and make it available in urban centres.

Trifed plans to open six retail outlets in Calcutta over the next three months, including at the airport's new terminal, GPO, Bhowanipore post office and in the Uttarapan shopping complex near Ultadanga.

"We are trying to mainstream mahua. We want to make it a commercial venture and bring the drink to urban areas," said Pravir Krishna, managing director of Trifed.

The flower is widely available in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.

In Bengal, mahua flowers are found in Purulia, Bankura, West Midnapore and Jhargram. Adivasis in these places prepare and consume the drink.

A professor of IIT Delhi, the institute that has collaborated with Trifed for research, told Metro that the bottled mahua would be a milder form of the liquor.

"The drink that Trifed would market will have alcohol content of 4-5 per cent," said Satya Narayan Naik, a professor at IIT Delhi's Center for Rural Development and Technology. Mahua originally has alcohol content between 30-40 per cent.

While the flowers will be sourced from self-help groups, Trifed will float a tender to select a manufacturer, an official said.

The Union government has announced a minimum support price of Rs 20/kg for the mahua flowers.