Chandigarh, August 15
It was real celebration time for Bacchus lovers of Chandigarh who would not know what way to thank the UT Administration for the wonderful I-Day gift it has given them.
Courtesy, changes effected in the UT Excise Policy for this year, the national holidays of August 15 and January 26, considered dry till now, will no more run dry. UT Excise Officer Rajiv Choudhary when asked what warranted alterations in the policy, said, “We have decided to follow Punjab. They have been observing dry hours (from 11 pm to 7 pm) on August 15 for some time now. We followed suit this time. Even January 26 will have this relaxation of hours. October 2 will, however, remain a dry day.”
Whereas UT says it has followed Punjab, officials in Punjab have different versions about the Excise policy regarding I-Day. The Principal Secretary, Excise, Punjab, Mr Mukul Joshi said, “It is a dry day as far as I know.” The Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Punjab, Mr D.P. Reddy, however, talked about dry hours on I-Day, saying, “As per the Punjab Excise policy, liquor vends can open after 7 pm on August 15.”
The SDM, Mohali Mr M.L. Sharma, responsible for law enforcement today, had another version, “We have orders for enforcing complete dryness today. We have no intimation regarding dry hours. Those who open their liquor vends today will be penalised.”
While the UT Excise authorities have split dry days into hours, allowing free flow of liquor on I-Day for the first time in the city’s history, the law is clear about a “Day’s” definition. Section 2 (F) of the Mines Act, 1952, defines a Day as, “A period of 24 hours beginning at midnight.”
Meanwhile a survey by the Tribune on the Chandigarh-Ambala and the Rajpura-Zirakpur-Panchkula highways revealed that most liquor
vends, especially those along the Punjab-Haryana border, were open after 7 pm. Many ticklers were seen standing in line for their turn to buy liquor. However, few vends in Chandigarh had put up notices mentioning: “The liquor vend will remain closed today.” These were the ones that had not expected the I-Day would not be a dry day.
The salesmen as well as alcohol lovers were happy that the liquor vends were “legally” opened after a long time today. Sales persons in Hallomajra (Chandigarh) and Dera Bassi (Punjab) vends said, “The decision is welcome. Our contractor has directed us to open the vends after 7 pm. He has permission from Excise officials concerned.” The SDM Dera Bassi (Patiala), Mr Deepak Garg, however, said he had no written directions regarding allowing the liquor vends to open today.
Strangely, many liquor vend owners in Panchkula (on the Punjab-Haryana border) also did brisk business this evening presuming the post 7 pm relaxation in the Excise law applied to them as well. Haryana observes August 15 as a complete dry day. As Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Haryana, Mr Yudhvir Singh confirmed, “There is no such thing as dry hours on August 15, January 26 and October 2. These are national holidays and their sanctity has to be maintained by observing them as dry.”
