Delhi: CAG report only proves what AAP has said all along, says Atishi

Former Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Atishi on Tuesday claimed that the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on Delhi’s liquor policy only confirmed the party’s long-standing allegations of irregularities in the old excise regime.

Atishi, now the Leader of Opposition in Assembly, said the report highlights black marketing, price manipulation and under-reporting of liquor sales, which led to a huge revenue loss for the government. “The CAG report has reaffirmed what we have been saying all along—Delhi’s old excise policy from 2017 to 2021 was deeply corrupt. The report highlights that liquor vendors manipulated sales figures, engaged in black marketing and caused huge losses to the exchequer,” she said.

The former CM pointed out that the audit found liquor vendors under-reported sales by 28 per cent, pocketing the unreported revenue for themselves. The report also confirms rampant smuggling of liquor from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, further reducing Delhi’s revenue. “Everyone knows which party governs these states and who benefited from this smuggling,” Atishi remarked.

She also accused liquor contractors of inflating cost prices to manipulate profit margins, claiming that their supposed 5% profit was artificially controlled. Atishi added that the CAG report acknowledges the AAP government’s new excise policy, introduced in 2021, as a more transparent system aimed at boosting revenue and curbing corruption.

She cited Punjab as an example, where the same policy was implemented in 2022 and led to an increase in excise revenue from Rs 6,158 crore to Rs 8,841 crore in a single year.