‘Patiala peg’ runs dry, no takers for liquor vends

Not a single contractor applied for liquor vends in Royal City, excise dept extends date till Thursday; situation no better elsewhere

PATIALA : The Royal City that the bacchus lovers swear by across the country while raising their ‘Patiala pegs’ may not see a liquor vend this fiscal, at least for some time, as not a single contractor has shown interest in selling alcohol here.

SOURCES SAY CONTRACTORS HAVE FORMED A CARTEL AND DECIDED NOT TO APPLY FOR VENDS TO PRESS GOVT TO REDUCE RATES

PATIALA: The Royal City that the bacchus lovers swear by across the country while raising their ‘Patiala pegs’ may not see a liquor vend this fiscal, at least for some time, as not a single contractor has shown interest in selling alcohol here.

In the city of CM Captain Amarinder Singh, not a single trader has expressed desire to run the liquor vends in three zones. Not only this, there is no application for Nabha, Rajpura and Samana zones either. Tuesday was the last day for applying.

Due to poor response from the liquor traders, the deputy excise and taxation commissioner has extended the deadline for applying for these zones up to March 30. If no application is received, tendering process will be initiated to run the vends, and till then the operation of vends will remain closed. Similar is the scene in neighbouring Sangrur district. No application has been received for liquor vends in zones of Sangrur city, Sunam, Lehragaga, Dirba and Ahmedgarh group.

“In Patiala, the contractors suffered losses because of smuggling of liquor from Haryana and Chandigarh. Most of traders have suffered losses, thus no one is coming forward. The rates must be decreased by at least 20%. Only then the firms will apply,” said a liquor trader.

It is learnt that the traders have formed a cartel and decided not to apply for vends to press the government to reduce prices. They want to scuttle the draw of lots process and apply through tenders, sources said. Meanwhile, the overall response of the liquor vends is also lukewarm. The process for allocation of 5,900 vends through draw of lots is currently underway across the state. Though the number of vends has been reduced by 484, excise and taxation department officials do not expect a significant dip in excise revenue from ₹5,400 crore netted in 2016-17. “The department has already received applications for 60% of estimated revenue. If we do not receive applications for some vends by March 31, allocation will be made through tenders,” an excise and taxation department official said.