Makkar, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner, told Ludhiana Tribune that as far as auction of remaining groups of vends in the district was concerned, the decision was to be taken at the ‘higher’ level in the government. It is learnt that taking advantage of the prevailing uncertainty and apprehensions in the liquor trade, some outside traders, reportedly enjoying close proximity to the Excise and Taxation Minister had come for bidding and out of two groups auctioned so far, one been awarded to a liquor magnate from Uttar Pradesh. “In such a situation, forcing the contractors to give a sizeable hike was unfair.” It was further reported that the department had allotted liquor vends at a lower price in places like Sangrur, Ropar, Nangal and Kurali to existing contractors, in view of the losses sustained by them, but this policy was given a go-by as far as Ludhiana vends were concerned for reasons best known to senior officials of the Excise and Taxation Department or the minister concerned. That the liquor contractors, reportedly favoured by the minister, as well as others, suffered huge losses during the year ended on March 31, 2001, is another story, which has all the ingredients of a thriller, with the new liquor contractors denied the possession of shops for new vends, which is a common practice in the trade, rate cutting and illegal sale of liquor to affect lawful sales.Īccording to knowledgeable sources in liquor trade, the contractors had suffered cumulative losses of more than 10 per cent during the last year, with each group of vends losing between Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore, which had resulted in many of the contractors turning into defaulters. It is well known that the liquor trade in the district, till last year that is, was dominated by the family of the Technical Education Minister Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha and the Minister for Excise and Taxation Mr Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon, had succeeded to some extent in curtailing the monopoly control of the group, commonly known as ‘syndicate’ by bringing in other contractors. 216.82 crore from auction of liquor vends, the highest in the state. Last year, the district had netted a whopping Rs. The auction of liquor vends, scheduled to be held here on March 26 was postponed by the department, without giving any satisfactory reason to the participating liquor traders and later on March 31, only two groups of vends - Samrala Road and Ferozepur Road - were auctioned for Rs 12.86 crore and Rs 16.26 crore, respectively. The ongoing battle between two Punjab ministers over the auction of liquor vends in this district has created a situation in which the government is facing massive loss of revenue, with each passing day and liquor has literally disappeared from the city, since barely 100 odd vends, both of country liquor and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), out of a total of 562, operating till March 31, have opened so far. Impasse over liquor vends’ auction continues But at the same time administration officials are feeling helpless due to the direct interference from the CM’s family. But non-availability of liquor has led to increase in the illicit distillation in the district of which the administration is well aware. In the Samrala area, where the tragedy took place, the Excise Department is itself running two vends one at Samrala and another at Macchiwara. Officials on conditions of anonymity said some tragedy was bound to happen in the absence of non-availability of liquor from licensed- ends. Last week, the government had failed to hold the auction of liquor vends due to the clash of interests of lobbies close to Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal on the one hand and Excise and Taxation Minister, Mr Adesh Partap Singh Kairon on the other. Of those taken ill after consuming the liquor, two were identified as Mita and his nephew Chhinda, they have been admitted to a private nursing home at Samrala.Īccording to officials at the police post at Hedon, most of the critically ill, more than six in number, whose number is put to have preferred to get admitted in private nursing homes to avoid any police action. Out of the three others whose names could not be established, two are employees of the Public Works Department (PWD) hailing from Dhindsa and Mansurpur villages. Three of the deceased identified so far, include Nazar Singh, Kuldip Singh and Surinder Singh of Malmajra village. According to reports reaching the district headquarters, six persons died and nearly an equal number were admitted to different private nursing homes after they consumed country made spirit late last night. The ever-increasing sale of spurious liquor, a direct outcome of non-auctioning of vends in Ludhiana district, claimed six lives in the first reported hooch tragedy in the district.
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