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Haryana Gram Sabhas can pass proposal to ban liquor vends till March 15
Ban on all the financial transactions of gram panchayats and other Panchayati Raj institutions imposed on February 15 will be removed from March 8
Any Haryana Gram Sabha that does not want liquor vends to be opened in its village can pass a proposal and send it to the state government through their deputy commissioner (DC) till March 15 deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said here on Sunday.
The announcement assumes significance as at present all Gram Panchayats in the state have been dissolved and elections are due. “Due to the pandemic, the excise policy came into force from May 19, 2020 instead of April 1, which is why the new excise policy will start from May 20.”
Chautala, who also holds the portfolio of the excise and taxation department, said panchayats had sent 3,048 such proposals in 2019-20, of which only 57 proposals were accepted and 48 were rejected, while the remaining were left out due to some objections.
He said in 2020-21, 898 proposals were received through DCs, of which 430 villages were such where there was a complete ban on opening of liquor vends. There were 468 cases in which multiple FIRs had been lodged relating to sale of illicit liquor, due to which there was a ban on the sale of liquor.
He said by the end of the financial year, revenue collection from excise is expected to be more than the target. He said ₹978 crore has been received as additional revenue in the last three quarters, which is an increase of around 19.85% against last year.
He said ₹6,361 crore was collected last year while this year a revenue of ₹6,214 crore had been collected till March 4 even as the excise year will be till May 19. “Thus, this year’s excise revenue is likely to be higher than the previous year,” he added.
‘Panchayats will be functional again from March 8’
Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said that from March 8 the panchayats across the state will become functional again. He said ban on all the financial transactions of Gram Panchayats and other Panchayati Raj Institutions imposed on February 15 will be removed from March 8, provided they function under the supervision of their administrator. He said tenders of over ₹5 lakh will be processed online.
