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Chandigarh admn’s 11th attempt to auction 20 unsold liquor vends finds only one taker
The vend that got sold on Friday is located at Manimajra near railway crossing; it went for ₹1.95 crore against the reserve price of ₹1.94 crore
Even after the UT excise and taxation department slashed the reserve prices up to 35%, only one liquor vend was allotted out of the 20 during the 11th auction held on Friday.
The vend that got sold on Friday is located at Manimajra near railway crossing. It went for ₹1.95 crore against the reserve price of ₹1.94 crore.
Through 11 rounds of auction, the department has managed to sell 76 of the total 95 vends in the city, while 19 remain available.
In the 10th auction, held on May 6, two liquor vends were sold, while in the ninth round of auction, held on May 1, no buyer came forward for any of the remaining vends, while asimilar situation was witnessed in the eighth round. During the seventh auction, UT was able to sell three liquor vends, while in the sixth auction too, no bidders came forward.
Finding no takers for its liquor vends and left with no option but to slash the reserve price multiple times, the UT excise and taxation department is staring at a revenue gap of almost ₹430 crore this financial year (2023-24).
The officials from the department said more auctions will be held till the remaining vends get sold.
Last year too, the department sold 93 of the 96 vends through seven auctions.
The liquor vend in Dhanas, located near Mullanpur, which had been fetching the highest bid for the last two years, has failed to attract buyers this time around. Last year, the vend had received the highest-ever bid of ₹12.78 crore against the reserve price of ₹10.39 crore, whereas in 2021, it had fetched ₹11.55 crore against the reserve price of ₹7.95 crore.