Political opposition to liquor shops

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, March 4

Fierce and motivated political opposition is set to derail Delhi government's liberal excise policy. One newly opened liquor shop in east Delhi has already become a casualty and two more are likely to be closed down shortly.

Interestingly, not only the BJP but also the Congress MLAs have come out openly against the policy of opening new liquor shops all over the city. Two Congress MPs – Jagdish Tytler (Union Minister) and Sandeep Dikshit too have expressed their displeasure over opening of new shops.

Excise and Finance Minister A.K. Walia said that the government would keep the public opinion in mind before allowing sale of liquor in a new area. "We give licenses to a particular shop only after it complies with the laid down criteria," said the minister.

The political opposition began after the government went on a shop-opening spree in this excise year and decided to do away with the NOC from the local MLA. More than 70 liquor shop were opened in a span of over six months. Due to the new shops, the revenue of the excise department jumped and it was more than Rs 150 crore from what was expected during this part of the year.

Congress MLA Shadi Ram, who is protesting for the removal of a liquor shop in Shahzada Bagh for a week, said that we do not know for how long we would have to sit on a dharna for the closure of the shop. He is not alone, at least half a dozen Congress MLAs have given representation to the government. The BJP state president Harsh Vardhan has demanded an immediate rollback of the liberal excise policy.

The government is in a Catch 22 situation due to the political protest. The Licenses (L-52) is given after the shop owner deposits Rs 5 lakh in license fee and 10 lakh in bank guarantee. "If we cancel the license, we would be accused of being negligent," admitted a senior official. The excise department has tried to find a way out. It is trying to take an undertaking from the shops so that they shift to another area where there is no protest.

Ironically, the political opposition to the liberal policy is taking place even though the newly opened shops have fulfilled the stipulated criteria. "Some of the MLAs are fuelling protests for their narrow political ends and for getting the powers to issue NOC," said a senior government official.

Conditions for grant of license

Grant of L-52 Licence:

This is meant for the private shops that want to open a liquor shop in Delhi. The government ended the monopoly of the government owned corporations two years ago and allowed private sale of liquor. So far 92 shops have got L-52 license.

Broadly, any premises to be suitable for opening of liquor vend should meet the following requirement:-

1. The vend premises should be in a pucca building with minimum floor area of 300 sq ft on a floor and located in commercial or in a rural area.

2. The vend premises are inspected by the site selection committee. The Committee inspects the shop to ascertain that the premises meet the requirement of the following excise rules. No liquor shop would be located within a distance of 75 metres from major educational institutions, religious places, hospitals with fifty beds and above.

3. The Excise collector would ascertain public opinion in the area before granting L-52 license.

It is this clause which the MLAs are citing for the closure of shops in their respective areas

(2005)