District excise dept gets Rs 40.71 crore

DISTRICT EXCISE Department received 50 tenders for 25 country and foreign liquor shops that were to be disposed of through the tendering process.

DISTRICT EXCISE Department received 50 tenders for 25 country and foreign liquor shops that were to be disposed of through the tendering process.

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Tenders were opened at the collectorate on Monday afternoon where the department received bids worth Rs 40.71 crore. Barring country liquor shops at Khajrani, Lohamandi, Palasia, Balda and Imli Bazaar, remaining 20 shops received bids of over 10 per cent of their annual price.

As per the excise policy, if a bid price is less than 10 per cent of the shop’s annual price then it is sent to the government to decide whether the shop should be allotted to a bidder or not. Shops receiving bids of over 10 per cent are disposed of by the District Excise Committee, which is headed by the district collector.

There are 143 country and foreign liquor shops in the district. Of the total, contractors of 118 shops have already renewed their annual licence bringing in Rs 119 crore for the department by way of renewal. Together, the department has earned revenue of Rs 160.34 crore through disposal of liquor shops in 2006-07. This is against the given target of Rs 163 crore.

Despite falling Rs 3 crore short of target, the department has registered revenue growth of 17.46 per cent this financial year compared to 2005-06. Excise revenue through disposal of liquor shops was Rs 136.50 crore last year.