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Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 8
Succumbing to the pressure by the powerful liquor lobby, the state government has decided to come out with a new excise policy. The matter will be taken up during a Cabinet meeting scheduled for Saturday.
Other than Mohali and some parts of Ropar, contractors across the state have refused to open vends till the issue of license fee was not resolved.
On the cards now is reduction in the quota of liquor the contractors have to sell, compensation for the days lost in the last financial year because of lockdown and starting the time period of the policy from May 7, rather than April 1. The excise department has been asked to submit details of the impact of lockdown on the execution of the policy.
A meeting of the Council of Ministers was held today, where the demands of liquor contractors were discussed. A delegation of contractors from Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Patiala and Bathinda had held a meeting Excise and Taxation Commissioner Vivek Pratap Singh earlier in the day and sought financial concessions, before they resumed operations.
Sources said the loss in revenue incurred by the excise department for the last nine days of March was Rs 600 crore on account of non-payment of license fee. The contractors, meanwhile, reiterated that they would not open vends till the financial relief was announced. “It is a misconception that liquor sales will peak in Punjab when vends open, as it happened in other states. The few vends that opened saw no rush at all, ”said Anil Mahajan, a contractor from Hoshiarpur.
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