21% groups in Ludhiana bid for e-auction of liquor

Of 64 groups put out on e-auction, only 14 groups had responded. The excise department has now extended the last date of bidding by five more days

Ludhiana Excise Department arrested two men and seized around 20 boxes of illicit liquor of premium brands that had been stowed in two cars. (Representational File Photo)

The first excise policy of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government received a luke-warm response during first e-auction of liquor groups receiving bids for only 21 per cent groups in Ludhiana excise division.

The excise department has now extended the last date of inviting bids by five days. The contractors would be able to bid till June 21. The department had carried out its exercise of first online bidding of groups. Of 64 groups put out on e-auction only 14 groups had responded. For the remaining 40 groups there was no response.

Punjab’s Excise Commissioner Varun Roojam said, “As e-tendering was done for the first time, there were a number of parties who said that they were not able to record their bids. Hence, we have given them time by extending the date to June 21.”

Sources said the e-bidding was done for groups in five districts, including Ludhiana, Patiala, Mohali, Ropar and Fatehgarh Sahib. While in Ludhiana only six groups of 36 received bids, in Mohali and Ropar only four groups of 13 put on auction evinced interest. These include the vend inside the Mohali airport.

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In Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib, only four out of 15 groups attracted bidders. The government is holding e-tendering of 177 groups in a phased manner.

The groups in Ludhiana division were taken up first of all.

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The government had recently rolled out its first excise policy after taking over the reins of the state. It had promised a revenue of about Rs 10,000 crore from liquor in the current fiscal and had also reduced the prices of beer and Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) by making the quota unlimited.

The contractors active in the trade have however been protesting against the policy. A contractor on anonymity said on Thursday that he knew there would not be many takers for the groups.

“The government has targeted a revenue jump of 40 per cent in the current fiscal. Then they want us to sell the liquor at considerably cheaper prices. How is this possible? This does not look like financially viable business anymore. That is why we have not bid for the vends.”

Another contractor said that earlier the security to be deposited by them was 10 per cent of the total amount, the monthly instalment was to paid by 30th of every month.

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Now, they have enhanced the security amount by 7 per cent and have also stated that the security would be refunded after March 31 of the current fiscal. Earlier, the security was adjusted in the last month of the fiscal.

“Do you know how difficult it is to get the security refunded from the government? It is not easy,” said a contractor.

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