After Oppn, Barala too wants excise policy amended

Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 24

Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala’s first excise policy, approved by the Cabinet last week, has come under attack from some senior BJP leaders, who are demanding a rollback of certain clauses, terming these against the interests of society.

After ex-CMBhupinder Singh Hooda and state Congress president Kumari Selja, state BJP chief Subhash Barala is the next to assail the policy.

“I have taken up the matter with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar as well as the Deputy Chief Minister and told them that certain provisions of this policy are being perceived against societal norms, which we need to pay attention to,” Barala said.

“The policy allows a person to keep up to 12 bottles by paying a fee of Rs 1,000. Though the provision of private bars exists, only a few persons have such a licence. But now, bootleggers in villages can legalise their business by keeping bottles and selling liquor in grocery shops with impunity,” he said. He said the decision of keeping bars and pubs open till 3 am had not gone down well with people in the state.

Dushyant, however, brushed aside criticism to the excise policy and ruled out chances of a rollback on any provision. “MLAs in Panchkula, Gurugram and Faridabad are happy over the extended bar timings. Getting a licence to serve liquor during parties was mandatory earlier and was introduced during Hooda regime. We are only enforcing it strictly. Having a licence for keeping bottles at home is an old provision introduced during the Congress regime. There will be no rethink on the excise policy,” he said.