Auction of liquor vends today

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 28

The Excise Department is all set to hold the auction of 553 liquor vends in six zones in the district at Golden Galaxy resort tomorrow morning. The auction would be organised under tight security to avoid any trouble, the authorities said. The department has also identified nearly 81 liquor vends on the highways which would be shifted to a distance of 500 metres from the highways as per the new excise policy.

Sources in the department said as contractors were hesitant about the vends away from the main roads, the number of applicants is bound to drop. The contractors feel that liquor vends on highways sell more liquor in comparison to the ones in less important commercial areas and elsewhere. This fiscal year, the department has constituted six zones. The zones have been constituted in such a way that each zone has a mix of rural and urban areas under its control.

Meanwhile, as the time for the auction is nearing, liquor contractors have dropped prices of various liquor brands at their counters so as to clear their stocks before March 31. It has been seen during the last many years that contractors drop prices by more than half to clear the stocks. A vender at Lawrence Road said, “Many people just drop by daily to enquire if the prices have slashed and by how much.”

The sources in the department claimed that there is less craze among contractors this year.