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THE
HARYANA government looks set to open up liquor business in a big
way in major cities of the state. Its new Excise policy aims at
increasing the number liquor shops in all cities, including
Gurgaon.
The
state is all set to scrap the conventional auctioning system of
liquor vends to a single trader. The administration is likely to
allocate retail shops to individuals under a new licensing system
in its excise policy 2006-07, effective form April 1.
The
policy draft is awaiting the nod from the Haryana cabinet that
meets on February 28.
The
number of retail shops will be increased from 2,800 to 4,400. In
Gurgaon alone, the number of shops of likely goes up from 170 to
250, if the policy is approved.
However,
traders have condemned the draft Excise policy, claming that it
would find few takers and more than one third of the shops would
not be subscribed. The government would stand to lose hundreds of
crores in revenue, they claimed. “It has already happened in
states like Rajasthan and UT Chandigrah, where the governments has
switched from auctioning systems to individual licensing system
recently,” a liquor trader said.
However,
the authorities don’t agree. “The new system will bring
transparency and provide opportunity to small entrepreneurs to
enter the liquor trade. It is also likely to curb the tendency of
cartelisation by big-time traders,” a source said.
The
draft excise policy proposes to give license for a liquor shop for
prices ranging between Rs.12 crore and Rs.12 lakh, depending on
the location of the shop.
By
Sanjeev K. Ahuja, Gurgaon (Hindustan Times) 27 Feb 2006
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