New Delhi: With Delhi staring at a major liquor shortage in the coming days with private wine and beer stores going to shut shop from August 1, the Kejriwal government is considering a one-month extension to its new excise policy, officials said. Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the Delhi government has withdrawn the new excise policy and directed for selling of liquor from government-run stores only.
"However, pre-empting a chaos due to shutting of private liquor shops and time needed for opening government vends, a proposal is likely to be soon presented before Delhi Cabinet for extension to the 2021-22 policy," a top government source said.
The 468 private liquor shops operating in the city will be shut from August 1 as the terms of their licenses and that of the new excise policy expires on July 31.
Hence, the private liquor stores across the city on Saturday offered heavy discounts and schemes like one plus one free and one plus two free to sell their remaining stock.
With the new policy gone, the excise licenses issued to hotels, clubs and restaurants having bars, and wholesale operations will also become redundant apart from private run liquor stores in the city.
This means there will be virtually no liquor supply from the wholesalers to the entire hospitality sector and retail vends in the city after July 31, till some alternate arrangements are made by the government, liquor trade experts claimed.
Targeting the BJP, Sisodia alleged they were "running an illegal liquor business in Gujarat" and they wanted to do it in Delhi also.
He also alleged the BJP was using agencies like the CBI and the ED to threaten liquor licensees, many of whom have now shut shops, and the excise officials who were scared to start open auctions of retail licenses.
"They want to create a shortage of liquor so that they can run an illegal liquor trade in Delhi like they are doing in Gujarat. But we will not let this happen," Sisodia said.
He claimed that if the legal sale of liquor is stopped in Delhi then it may witness a "hooch tragedy" on lines of Gujarat.
Forty-two people from Botad and the neighbouring Ahmedabad district in Gujarat died after consuming spurious liquor on July 25, while 97 people were admitted to hospitals in Bhavnagar, Botad and Ahmedabad.
Addressing reporters at his residence, Sisodia said in the old excise policy there were many government liquor vends and there used to be "huge corruption" in such stores. But that was stopped with the new excise policy, the deputy chief minister said.
In the new excise policy, licenses were issued through open tenders in a transparent manner, he said.
"Under the old regime, the government used to earn a revenue of Rs 6,000 crore, while through the new excise policy the government was set to get Rs 9,500 crore revenue in the entire year," Sisodia said.
Accusing the saffron party, Sisodia claimed out of 850 liquor shops, only 468 could open as many were shut by shop owners following "threats from the BJP".
More shop owners wanted to shut shops following such threats, he alleged.
"They (BJP) want to reduce the sale of legal quantities of liquor. Like Gujarat, they want to promote the sale of spurious, off-duty liquor by threatening Delhi's shop-owners, officers," Sisodia said.
Comparing the number of shops in BJP-ruled states with Delhi, Sisodia said in Haryana's Gurugram one liquor shop is opened per 466 people while in Goa the ratio is 761 people and in Noida, one liquor shop is opened per 1,390 people.
No response was available from the Delhi government or its Excise department about the arrangements being made to ensure liquor supply in the city after the withdrawal of the new excise policy.
President of National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI) Kabir Suri said that there was a "lack of clarity" over the emerging situation and things will be clearer only with further instructions from the Delhi government.
Excise Policy 2021-22 extended twice before for two months each after April, will come to an end on July 31 as the Delhi government has decided to go back to the old excise regime and run liquor stores for the coming six months.
The major shift, following a CBI probe recommended by Lt Governor into alleged violations of rules and procedural lapses in the implementation of Excise Policy 2021-22, is also feared to disrupt the entire supply chain of liquor in the city.
It will be the second time within any year as the city is staring at a liquor shortage. For three weeks before new excise came into operation of private run liquor vends from November 17, 2021, there was a shortage of alcohol in Delhi as government-run stores and individual licensees were quitting the retail business.
Under the new excise policy, licences for 849 retail vends were issued through open bidding by the Excise department last year. Currently, 468 liquor stores are running in the city that will quit business from August 1 rendering thousands of their employees jobless.
An official document from the Finance department has directed the Excise Commissioner to coordinate with heads of four Corporations of the Delhi government for details of liquor vends operated by them before the new Excise Policy (2021-22) came into effect from November 17, 2021.
The four Corporations — DSIIDC, DTTDC, DCCWS and DSCSC — were running a majority of liquor stores in the city before the Excise Policy 2021-22 came into being with the Delhi government quitting the retail sale of liquor.
Meanwhile, the BJP claimed that the Kejriwal government scrapped its new excise policy as it was "scared" by the Lieutenant Governor's recommendation for a CBI probe into its implementation.
Union minister and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi asked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to answer the questions and charges of corruption levelled by the BJP leaders since the implementation of the new excise policy.
Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta said the AAP government's decision to scrap its new policy was a victory for Delhiites and the BJP workers who were protesting against it.