90 per cent licensing units for liquor vends auctioned

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 28

In a major relief for the cash-strapped Punjab Government, more than 90 per cent of the licensing units (groups) for liquor vends were auctioned successfully today. None of the big players has reportedly got the chunk of vends.

Traders took part in auction of 229 groups

Of the 236 groups that the cash-strapped state government set out to auction, traders had come forward to participate in the auction of 229 groups. More than 90 per cent of the licensing units (groups) for liquor vends were auctioned successfully on Thursday

The successful bidder in each group also managed to deposit Rs 3 crore each (3 per cent of the fee), thus keeping the cash registers running. The highest number of bidders tried their luck in Mohali, followed by Ludhiana district.

Of the 236 groups that the state government set out to auction, traders had come forward to participate in the auction of 229 groups. Officials in the state Excise Department say that they have managed to auction over 200 groups today.

“The auction today was very successful. We will soon conduct an auction for the leftover groups,” said Excise Minister Harpal Cheema.

Reports coming in from Jalandhar and Nawanshahr show that of the 26 groups, 17 were auctioned successfully.

Deputy Commissioner (Excise) Paramjeet Singh said that the draw was executed with utmost transparency and fairness. Notably, the department received over 1,000 applications for this auction.

In Bathinda, 1,522 bidders participated in the auction of 50 groups. Even before the auction, the department earned a revenue of Rs 11.41 crore through the filing of applications as the fee for the application was Rs 75,000 (non-refundable).

Interestingly, across Punjab 35,000 bidders had submitted applications for participating in the auction. Since the application fee is non-refundable, the total money collected from just the applications is Rs 287 crore.

In Ludhiana, 9,500 applicants participated in the auction of 53 groups.

The AETC, Inderjit Singh Nagpal, said that there was an excellent response and by 8:30 pm, five to six groups were still left for the auction. “Even at this hour, over 500 persons are sitting and attending the auction, which will be on till 11 pm or even late,” he said.

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