Ludhiana: Liquor traders boycott new excise policy, not to attend pre-bid meeting

LUDHIANA: In what could be termed a big setback to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, the majority of liquor contractors from all over the state have called for the boycott of the new excise policy which is yet to come into effect.
The decision to boycott was announced by liquor contractors who had gathered for a meeting at a marriage palace on the outskirts of Ludhiana on Saturday.
Terming the new excise policy to be draconian the contractors have threatened to move high court against it and they have also decided not to attend state government’s pre-bid meeting for liquor retail groups which is scheduled to take place tomorrow at Chandigarh.
The contractors have also accused the AAP government of framing a policy which will benefit select liquor traders who according to them are close to the AAP.
The contractors also alleged that the AAP government has hiked the license fee for liquor groups from Rs 7-8 crore per group to more than Rs 30-35 crore approximately and with an increase of such a huge percentage the entire liquor trade will be destroyed as it is impossible for any of the liquor contractors to pay such hefty sum.
Some of the prominent liquor contractors who were part of this meeting were KD Khosla, Anil Mahajan, Bhagwant Dayal, Inderpal Chintu, Darshan Singh, and Yash Pal amongst others.