Jalandhar: Liquor vend auction evokes no response in 7 of 14 city zones

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, March 28

The auction of liquor vends held by the Excise Department in Jalandhar drew no response to as many as seven of the 14 zones of the city with applicants citing rampant smuggling as the reason. Applicants said the black sale was affecting their business adversely and they were not able to generate the expected revenue.

The contractors said liquor was smuggled openly in the city with doorstep delivery of bottles at concessional rates. They said there was no check and the counter sales had fallen drastically. Only 73 applications were received for 14 zones of which 18 were of Subhash Chander’s group. The contractor paid three per cent of the licence fee for one zone, but did not turn up subsequently for the draw coming in his name. This despite the fact that he had paid Rs 75,000 per application as non-refundable fee.

This way, the department earned Rs 19.58 crore by first installment of the licence fee today during the auction held at Red Cross Bhawan. The department had plan to earn Rs 988.05 crore as the total annual licence fee from the auction of 26 liquor zones, including 14 in the city, seven in the rural areas and five of Nawanshahr. Even for Nawanshahr auction, two of the five zones did not elicit any response. Jalandhar (Rural) zones got a good response with 769 contractors filing their applications. Nawanshahr auction received 238 applications for five zones.

Officials cited other reasons for a poor response in the city. “The ED action on liquor policy in Delhi and subsequent action expected in Punjab has led to apprehensions among investors. Contractors fear wrath of the central agencies. So, they are reluctant in making bigger investments,” said a Jalandhar-based department official. The annual licence fee of a single zone in the city varies between Rs 32 crore and Rs 38 crore, of which three per cent amount was to be paid today. Another three per cent amount was to deposited by contractors tomorrow and the reamaining six per cent by March 31 in a quick succession for the allotment of vends.

Regarding allegations of rampant liquor smuggling, Jalandhar Commissioner of Police Swapan Sharma said, “Liquor contractors are levelling false charges. There could be a plan to form a cartel. So, contractors were trying to downplay in the auction today. They perhaps could be planning to take the same deal at lower licence fee.”

Deputy Commissioner (Excise) Paramjeet Singh along with Additional Deputy Commissioners Jasbir Singh and Rajiv Verma supervised the auction which was videographed too.

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