BJP MLAs in the Delhi Assembly staged a walkout on Tuesday, accusing the AAP government of minting excess revenue by issuing 146 liquor licences, even as the government reaffirmed its policy of crackd
BJP MLAs in the Delhi Assembly staged a walkout on Tuesday, accusing the AAP government of minting excess revenue by issuing 146 liquor licences, even as the government reaffirmed its policy of crackdown on liquor vends across the capital.
Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia accused the BJP of peddling lies and said only six retail vends have come up in Delhi and number of other licensed establishments serving alcohol have actually gone down since the AAP came to power.
He said the AAP government had excess revenue due to corruption-free collection of excise duty and by not allowing more liquor shops to open, in spite of claims to the contrary by the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and BJP MLA, Mr Vijender Gupta, on Tuesday.
Mr Gupta said as per figures provided by Mr Sisodia himself in the House when the AAP government came to power in 2014-15, the number of retail licences was 1,532. By August 10 this year, he said, the number of liquor licences in the capital touched a “record high” of 1,674.
However, trashing this claim, Mr Sisodia said the Opposition is quoting “misleading” figures to “deceive” the public. In his reply, Mr Sisodia also indirectly hit out at the Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj Abhiyan, which attacked the liquor policy of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s government, by holding a public hearing against a liquor vend in Karawal Nagar on Tuesday.
“I fail to understand how six new retail shops have contributed towards doubling the revenue collection A section is deliberately misleading and trying to create a wrong perception. It is almost like we have turned into a Ponty Chadha, but no one is noticing how many Ponty Chadhas we have put out of business,” Mr Sisodia said.
Mr Gupta, who staged a walkout with his party MLA Jagdish Pradhan before Mr Sisodia’s speech, read out reports to make a point that the Kejriwal government was encouraging “microbreweries and nightlife.”
Under the new excise policy announced by the AAP government, no new liquor store, except in malls, will be allowed in Delhi in the current fiscal year. It has also empowered the mohalla sabhas to decide whether to shut down any of the existing ones.
“The mohalla sabhas have not yet been notified and the government says that these bodies have been empowered to take decisions in this regard,” Mr Gupta said.
Mr Sisodia said the policy on the microbreweries was not new. “Microbreweries exist in abundance in Gurgaon where you have the government of ‘gau rakshaks,’” he said.
Mr Sisodia said he and Cabinet colleagues, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, are teetotallers. However, he told the Assembly that the AAP government is presently not keen on enforcing a blanket ban on liquor.
Referring to the prohibition models in states like Gujarat and Bihar, Mr Sisodia said there is need for a thorough study before resorting to any such move.
“We don’t want to run Delhi using the revenue earned from liquor. We are not against any ban either, but it has to be across the country. Right now our focus is on ensuring that the revenue earned is not siphoned off like before,” he said.
AAP MLA Madanlal took a stand against prohibition, claiming that hundreds have lost lives in Bihar and Gujarat, which are dry states. “Moreover, we don’t have the police under our control so we should not go for a ban in such a situation,” he said.
