 Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 15: Terming officers managing J&K UT as honest and sincere and reposing full faith in them, Jammu Wine Traders Association (JWTA) today said that some big fishes (big liquor mafia) were pushing for e-auctioning of the liquor vends with an aim to destabilize the liquor shops license holders.
"We have full faith in the officers handling the UT affairs. They are really good people and are not corrupt at all. Some big fishes are out to wipe out the license holders from the business," President JWTA, Charanjeet Singh told reporters outside the office of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) here.
Singh was flanked by a battery of wine shop owners, who had gone to meet BJP state President Ravinder Raina. They apprised him about their predicament over the implementation of New Excise Policy 2021.
Earlier a delegation of JWTA had also called on Excise Commissioner at his office and submitted a memorandum of their demands.
Speaking to Early Times, Singh said that the delegation members appealed to Excise Commissioner to not dislocate the license holders and allow them to continue the business. Singh also said that if the government wants to give more licenses then it should give more wine shop licenses to non-covered areas.
While commenting over those taking refugee of the status of Union Territory, for implementation of New Excise Policy, Singh averred that J&K UT could not be compared with Chandigarh UT. "Chandigarh has industry hub, education hub and other industries but JK faced militancy for long and when J&K state is divided into two UTs, two parameters are applied on both UTs. In Ladakh UT, old Excise policy is still in vogue, while in JK UT new policy has been introduced", Singh said.
Singh further said that they have made it clear before the Excise Commissioner as well as BJP president Ravinder Raina that the license holders would not be able to participate in the e-auctioning process as they didn't have huge finances at their disposal. "We are in this business for decades but have never defaulted. We paid taxes honestly and it is our appeal before the government not to dislocate us as many have mortgaged their properties to run the trade and a large number of families depend on this business", Singh said.
After meeting BJP president, Singh said, "Ravinder Raina is a dynamic leader and has a saint type outlook and he has assured that he would strongly put fourth their cause with the Lieutenant Governor. We are 100 percent hopeful that Raina would keep his words and if the trade will go out of the hands of the license holders then it would be misfortune of Jammu people."
Pertinently, the New Excise Policy-2021 envisages allotment of liquor shops to the residents of the Union Territory through e-auction. Any person who is eligible for grant of license as per the provisions of the Excise act and rules will be eligible for participation in the e-auction process.
"We reject this policy which is meant for rich persons alone. None of us can afford to compete in the e-auction as we are small traders who earn their livelihood from this business for decades," JWTA president Charanjeet Singh had said.
The liquor vends shall be allotted for a period of one year as per the provisions of the J&K Excise Act and Rules. The total number of shops to be allotted would be the same as existing at present and there would be no increase in the number of vends to be auctioned," the policy said, adding only a single outlet will be allotted to one person.
"The rich people can bid a huge amount of money, which is required to run this business as per new draft policy, thus snatching livelihood from small traders and creating a liquor mafia," Singh said. |
