Patiala, March 22
The state Excise and Taxation Department today held the auction for liquor vends in all districts for the financial year 2013-14 through draw of lots. Sources said the department expected to mop up Rs 4,000 crore (it was around Rs 3,400 crore last fiscal) in the next fiscal besides earning Rs 191 crore through application fee.The department today collected Rs 2,720 crore from the contractors here as licence fee.

The bidding process began in the morning. It was monitored by respective Deputy Commissioners. Successful contractors were asked to deposit 1 per cent of the licence fee on the spot. The fee for vends within the municipal corporation limits was 2 per cent.

“The allottees will have to deposit 5 per cent (after adjusting the initial deposit) of the licence fee within 48 hours of the draw of lots and the remaining 10 per cent will have to be deposited within a week from today,” said Excise and Taxation Commissioner Anurag Verma. “However, the licencee can pay 5 per cent of the security amount by April 15 with an interest of 1 per cent per month after prior approval of the division DETC,” he said.

The state is expected to consume 31 crore bottles next fiscal, one crore more than last fiscal. The state had 7,256 liquor vends in 2011. The number went up to 5,652 in 2005-06. As of now, Punjab has over 5,064 vends for PML and 2,192 vends for IMFL. Their numbers are set to increase and so is the state revenue.

As many as 719 liquor vends were auctioned in Sangrur on Friday, 65 more than the number last year, for Rs 174.62 crore. Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner Darbara Singh said for 10 groups of liquor vends, the authorities had received 131 applications and collected Rs 91.30 lakh as application.

Dr AS Mann, president, Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum, and Kamal Anand, general secretary, People for Transparency, condemned the opening of 65 more vends in the district.

They said it was shameful that of the 43 resolutions passed by Sangrur village panchayats against the opening of liquor vends in their villages, the government had accepted only two.

A total of 210 liqour vends were allotted through draw of lots in Ropar. The allotment of 135 country liquor and 75 IMFL vends will fetch a licence fee of Rs 72.40 crore.

While 86 vends were allotted in Nangal circle, 65 were allowed in Morinda circle. The remaining 59 vends were allotted in Ropar circle. Deputy Commissioner PK Aggrawal said there was an increase of Rs 5.2 crore in the licence fee compared to last fiscal when a sum of Rs 67.2 crore was collected.