CAPTAIN GOVT EYES BOOZE BIZ TO RAMP UP REVENUE

CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday directed the excise department to explore the possibility of setting up a wholesale liquor corporation for the distribution of liquor, as a step towards ending monopolistic practices in the trade and earning revenue for state exchequer.

The decision was taken at the first meeting of the cabinet subcommittee on finance, set up to regularly review the cashstrapped state’s fiscal situation. The sub-committee headed by the chief minister has health and family welfare, and research and medical education minister Brahm Mohindra and finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal as members. The sub-committee has been tasked with finding ways of curtailing expenditure and mobilising resources.

Chairing the maiden meeting, Amarinder asked the excise department to check on the feasibility of government intervention in liquor trade, which is completely controlled by private players in the state. He told the department to work out the modalities for developing a corporation for wholesale distribution of liquor. The department officials earlier made a presentation to the sub-committee explaining the existing value chain in the liquor trade and also highlighting the model followed by other states, including Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Rajasthan, according to the spokesperson.

A move to shift to a multi-year liquor policy from the prevailing one-year policy was also discussed by the sub-committee, which instructed the excise department to submit a detailed proposal.

He asked the departments to come out with innovative ways to generate revenue for the state, which has inherited a debt burden of Rs 2.08 lakh crore from the previous SAD-BJP government.

Besides Brahm Mohindra and Manpreet, chief minister’s media adviser Raveen Thukral, Punjab governance reforms and ethics commission chairman KR Lakhanpal, adviser, financial resources, VK Garg, chief secretary Karan Avtar Singh, additional chief secretary, excise and taxation, MP Singh, principal secretary, finance, Anirudh Tewari and excise and taxation commissioner Vivek Partap Singh were present.