Two-thirds of Punjab vends stay shut, GoM to meet traders today
LOGJAM OVER LIQUOR Some shops open only for a while in majority of districts, sales remain negligible
CHANDIGARH: Nearly 65% of a total of 5,800 liquor vends in Punjab remained closed on Thursday, a day after chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh announced a relief of ₹760 crore to the contractors for the losses incurred by them during the 45 days of the lockdown period (from March 23 to May 6).
A meeting between the liquor contractors and a group of ministers comprising Manpreet Singh Badal (finance), Vijay Inder Singla (education) and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria (housing and urban development) will be held on Friday to look into the issue.
As per reports, the sale of liquor was negligible in various districts. While most vends remained shut in Patiala and south Malwa on Thursday, some traders opened their shops in Sangrur and Jalandhar for a while. In Amritsar, a few vends were open but had no buyers.
Of the 350 vends in Bathinda district, only nine opened. Ferozepur deputy excise and taxation commissioner HPS Gotra said all 132 vends of 11 groups remained open. In Ludhiana, liquor contractors kept their vends closed.
The district has 750 vends. A delegation of contractors held a meeting with deputy excise and taxation commissioner Pawan Garg and announced to open the vends from Friday.
CONTRACTORS’ GROUSE
The vend owners say actual losses are more than that of 45 days and the government should rework the annual quota. The state government had allowed opening of vends from May 7 after having imposed curfew on March 23. Of the 686 groups Punjab is divided for sale of liquor, the government was unable to sell 14% of them due to the lockdown.
Deep Malhotra, who has major stakes in liquor business in the Malwa belt said, “Quota should be fixed for the first quarter of the year which could be reviewed later on depending on the situation. Vends are not opening because traders want clarity on all the issues.”
A liquor contractor with business interests in Pathankot and Sangrur said, “Besides the lockdown days, we apprehend extra loss of 30% in business due to the closure of taverns (ahatas), marriage palaces, restaurants, clubs, bars, besides an exodus of migrants to their home states.”
“Due to the lockdown, the purchasing power of consumers suffered badly and it will have a direct bearing on liquor purchase. The number of opening hours of vends have also been reduced,” said another contractor, asking the government to keep in mind all the factors while framing the excise policy.
Earlier, the excise and taxation, and finance departments had suggested not to extend the period of contract for liquor vends beyond March 31, 2021, which was opposite to the contractors’ demand. On Wednesday, CM Amarinder approved the finance department’s recommendation to provide proportionate adjustment of ‘minimum guarantee quota’ for the losses incurred in the 9 days of lockdown in March (2.5% cut from total revenue quota of ₹5,675 crore), which comes out to ₹141 crore. In the current financial year, relaxation of 10% (₹620 crore) was approved of a total of ₹6,200 crore revenue projection.