Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has alleged a Rs 500-crore scam in the Punjab excise policy.
New Delhi: The national capital is boiling over on the issue of the new excise policy. Both the ruling AAP and BJP are in the tussle. Amid this, on 25 August, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged a Rs 500-crore scam in Punjab excise policy and sought a probe by central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Before Badal, Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia, too, demanded a high-level probe into the Punjab excise policy.
The SAD has blamed Punjab’s liquor policy as framed on the Delhi pattern and the party will soon approach the CBI and ED for a probe in this matter. “SAD will also file complaints with CBI and ED to demand a probe into the scam. Punjab excise policy was framed in Delhi-by-Delhi people for Delhi players on the Delhi pattern. The Rs 8,800 crore business was handed over to two Delhi people whose profit margin was doubled to facilitate kickbacks,” reads the tweet.
“Two companies from the capital have been handed over the trade in Punjab, they have 80% brands in their hands. They have installed their guys in the trade. Earlier there was healthy competition. But after the new policy has been introduced, they changed conditions to favour their men,” said Sukhbir Singh Badal. “People who were in business for the last 30-40 years were asked to leave, to make way for their men in the trade,” alleged Sukhbir Badal.
According to party leaders, soon a delegation will meet the Punjab governor and will ask him to take action against the perpetrators, including Raghav Chadha and Manish Sisodia, as well as Punjab government officials who facilitated the scam.
On the other hand, the Congress has also raised questions about the new liquor policy in Punjab. Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa and other senior leaders demanded a CBI probe into the new excise policy. “Like Delhi, the liquor policy in Punjab is a sell-out in which the Aam Aadmi Party leaders, in connivance with some senior officials, have defrauded the state of thousands of crores of rupees, besides rendering hundreds of Punjabi traders jobless,” Bajwa alleged.
According to Congress leaders, AAP in Punjab is diverting people’s attention from the issue of corruption by using state machinery for vendetta politics.
Punjab’s New Liquor Policy
In May this year, AAP introduced the new liquor policy in Punjab. Reducing the prices, boosting the revenue and ending monopoly are some of the objectives of the new policy. The new policy is applicable for a period of nine months from 1 July to 31 March 2023. The Punjab government is eyeing Rs 9,647 crore in revenue from this policy, which is around 40% more compared to last year’s revenue.
In the new policy, no quota has been fixed for lifting IMFL and beer by the retail licencees. However, the quota for the Punjab Medium Liquor remained what it was last year.