CITCO refuses to run unsold liquor vends in Chandigarh

After failing to sell 18 of city’s 95 liquor vends in financial year 2023-24, the Chandigarh excise and taxation department, through the 2024-25 UT Excise Policy, had decided that any liquor vend remaining unsold will be managed by CITCO

The UT excise and taxation department’s plan to hand over unsold liquor vends to the Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation Limited (CITCO) has come a cropper with the corporation refusing to run them.

The Chandigarh excise department had planned to allocate liquor vends to CITCO, similar to the model in Delhi, where corporations run most liquor vends. (AP)

After failing to sell 18 of city’s 95 liquor vends in financial year 2023-24, even after 20 auctions with multiple reserve price cut, the department, through the 2024-25 UT Excise Policy, had decided that any liquor vend remaining unsold will be managed by CITCO.

Since the policy was implemented on April 1, 2024, the department has held 12 rounds of auctions to allot 94 liquor vends, but failed to find takers for eight.

Of the total goal of ₹1,000 crore for the current fiscal, the department had targeted to earn ₹456 crore from licence fee of liquor vends. But after allotting 86 liquor vends, it has managed to bring in only ₹421 crore, though higher than the ₹380 crore fetched last year.

Meanwhile, Rupesh Kumar Aggarwal, commissioner of the UT excise and taxation department, stated, “As CITCO did not accept our terms, we have distributed the quota of the unsold liquor vends among the allotted vends to mitigate losses.”

In financial year 2023-24, the department’s failure to sell 18 of city’s 95 liquor vends had led to a revenue deficit of ₹150 crore against the goal of ₹830 crore.

Despite repeated attempts, Abhijit Vijay Chaudhari, managing director of CITCO, did not respond to calls and messages.

However, another senior CITCO officer, not wishing to be named, said, “It is not financially viable for CITCO to run the vends. Also, we received a letter from the excise department on May 31, which was too late. When a private contractor cannot run the vends, how can we? We cannot afford to invest ₹30 to ₹40 crore in a business where we foresee losses.”

CITCO was incorporated as a company under the Companies Act, 1956, and currently runs various hotels and petrol pumps in Chandigarh. The UT excise department had planned to allocate liquor vends to CITCO, similar to the model in Delhi, where corporations run most liquor vends.

Darshan Singh Kler, president of the Wine Contractors’ Association, said, “We knew from Day 1 that CITCO will not run the vends. It was only a ploy by the excise department to spread fear among liquor contractors of losing their business to CITCO.”