317 liquor vend licences fetch govt Rs357 crore

The Haryana government fetched a whopping Rs357.63 crore from the allotment of 317 liquor vends to private-sector bidders for the year 2012-13 on Friday. The vends will start from April 1.

The Haryana government fetched a whopping Rs357.63 crore from the allotment of 317 liquor vends to private-sector bidders for the year 2012-13 on Friday. The vends will start from April 1.

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The highest bid for the individual liquor vends was made at Rs13.85 crore for the group of three vends, including Sahara Mall, DLF Central Arcade and Bristol Chowk, followed by Rs12.5 crore for the group comprising Galleria Market, Super Mart and Sushant Lok Bayopar Kendra.

This year, the government had increased the number of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) vends by six, taking the tally to 172 from last year’s 166 vends.

In the first-of-its-kind move, in the recently announced new excise policy 2012-13, it has been made mandatory for bidders to submit their bids for a group of closely located three liquor vends instead of one. This has been done to avoid competition. As such, the bidding was clubbed together for three vends.

In totality, 172 IMFL and 145 country-made liquor shops were allocated during the auction.

Neeraj Sachdeva, who bagged 15 vends in localities like MG Road and Galleria market with the highest bids, said, “This year, the bids were not as high as 2011.”

Of the total revenue of Rs357.63 crore, allotment of IMFL shops fetched Rs274.62 crore, while country-made liquor shops Rs83.01 crore.

Besides, 18 IMFL shops and two country-made liquor shops could not be allocated due to less number of bids, for which tenders will be invited again.

The excise and taxation department earned a revenue of Rs39.43 crore more than the present financial year of 2011-12, which is drawing to a close.

PC Meena, Gurgaon DC, said the government had made a provision that allottees of the financial year 2011-12 could get their licences renewed for the next financial year 2012-13 and deposit the licence fee.