232 panchayats want liquor vends shut

Gagan K Teja

Tribune News Service

Patiala, February 12

As many as 232 village panchayats have approached the state Excise and Taxation Department, demanding that the liquor vends in their village be shut down in the financial year of 2016-17. All of them passed resolutions to shut down liquor vends.

There has been sharp hike in the number of applications sent to the department with only 150 applications submitted last year. The largest number of panchayats opposing liquor vends are in Sangrur (59).

There are several villages in other districts that want to shut down liquor vends. These are Barnala (17), Patiala (10), Mansa (7), Fatehgarh Sahib (4) and Amritsar (2).

Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi said more village panchayats coming forward to pass Section 40 of PRA Act 1994 was a welcome development. He further said that now it was up to the department to respect the decision of the people.

Section 40 of the Act empowers the village panchayat to introduce prohibition of alcohol. The section further says if within two years before the resolution, alcohol is not smuggled or illegally distilled, the resolution will be binding on the Excise and Taxation Commissioner of the state.

Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Excise) Neelam Chaudhary said they would now hold a hearing for these panchayats in the end of the month.

“The department has a simple process for accepting applications for closing liquor vends. The panchayat should pass the resolution with a two-thirds majority and no liquor smuggling case should be registered in the village. Thereafter, we thoroughly examine the application,” she said.