Won’t ban
ASSEMBLY SESSION
NEW DELHI: Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday tabled details of liquor shops and said the government had no plan to ban alcohol in Delhi.
The minister’s remarks in the assembly came amid a controversy over an increase in liquor shops in the Capital.
Sisodia said that in many areas, liquor vends had been closed after complaints from the public. The Delhi government has decided to empower Mohalla Sabhas to take a call on liquor shops in neighbourhoods.
In reply to a question by AAP’s Timarpur MLA Pankaj Pushkar, the deputy CM said, “There is an attempt to create an environment that we are the liquor mafia. We ended corruption in distribution of licence for liquor vends and that is why we are being targeted. We have shifted the liquor shops to malls as they have an arrangement to deal with anti-social elements.”
Sisodia said they didn’t want to run the government through money collected from liquor sale.
“Delhi will become the first place where locals will decide the location of liquor vends. We have ended the inspector raj and corruption in the excise department. Now, an officer’s job is to stop corruption and not to think about liquor vends. Earlier, politicians or relatives used to own liquor shops, now in our government, no MLA supports opening of (liquor) vends in their area,” Sisodia said.
The government had recently notified 2,972 mohalla sabhas where registered voters will be able to take a call through voting on basic or urgent development