Punjab govt goes all out to boost liquor revenue, villages don’t oppose move

None of the village panchayats has opposed the opening of liquor shops the next fiscal in their area amid the Punjab Government’s push to boost its tax revenue from the trade, according to officials.

Advertisement

The decline has been gradual

• The decline in such resolutions has been gradual. In 2012, 140 villages submitted such resolutions but the number dwindled to just five last year.
• A senior excise official said this is for the first time in recent memory when no panchayat approached the department with such a request.
• This might be due to the fact that many newly elected panchayats are yet to hold meetings to take up such resolutions, another official added.

The window to seek the removal or relocation of liquor vends closed in November and village panchayats were required to file their objections before that for the consideration of the Excise Department.

A village panchayat wanting to remove or shift liquor vends must pass a resolution, which must be supported by two-thirds of its members, before its submission to the department.

The department then reviews the resolution and decides whether to approve or reject it.

The deadline to pass the resolution ended on September 30.

According to Punjab Excise Commissioner Varun Roojam, no liquor smuggling case should be registered in a village for the request to be considered.

A senior excise official said this is for the first time in recent memory when no panchayat approached the department with such a request.

“So far, none of the villages have submitted a resolution to make their village liquor vend-free. As a result, when liquor vend draws are held in March, all eligible villages can expect to have liquor shops for the coming fiscal,” he said.

However, the decline in such resolutions has been gradual.

In 2012, 140 villages submitted such resolutions but the number dwindled to just five last year.

The reduced number of applications may be due to the fact that many newly elected panchayats are yet to hold meetings to take up such resolutions, another government official said.

“Additionally, the liquor business in Punjab is often tied to political figures as many liquor traders are directly or indirectly linked to them,” a prominent liquor trader said.

However, several liquor traders claimed that banning liquor vends only promotes its smuggling and illegal sale.

‘Profits likely to rise’

“More vends mean more profit as margins are going down while the input cost is increasing every year,” the liquor trader said.

AS Mann, president of NGO Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum, which opposes the opening of liquor vends and advocates ‘liquor-free Punjab’, said the process to seek the closure of liquor vends is cumbersome, which discourages many panchayats from taking action.

The state’s Aam Aadmi Party government is targeting to generate Rs 10,000 crore in taxes from the liquor trade this fiscal as Punjab has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption in India.

With a population close to three crore, over 30 crore alcohol bottles sold in the state annually.