NEW DELHI: Under the new excise policy 2021-22, which was implemented in November last year, retailers were allowed to offer hefty discounts on alcohol exercising their own discretion, which also led to major crowding at the private liquor stores in the city. The policy was rolled back by the government last month following Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena recommending a CBI probe in the scheme, citing irregularities.
Selected undertakings of the Delhi government Delhi Tourism and Transport Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Stores (DCCWS) and Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC) — will be opening 500 liquor vends across the city by August 31. The planning and scouting of places for which is underway.
All these vends shall also have specific colour-coding for each corporation green for DTTDC, blue for DCCWS, grey for DSIIDC and yellow for DSCSC so that these are “easily identifiable visually”. Besides, the vends in-charge and employees will wear uniforms with name plates according to the colour-code and these shall open from 10 am to 10 pm, as per new government notification.
Each corporation will also run five premium vends. The total number of liquor vends to be run by the corporations will go up to 700 by year-end. The excise policy under which the private liquor vends are currently being run in the city comes to an end on August 31. The Delhi government corporations will run retail liquor vends from September 1 and there will be no private players in the segment.
According to an excise department document, holders of L-6 (government-run shops) licence will be bound to sell liquor only at prices fixed by the excise commissioner which will be mentioned on labels of the bottles. “Any undercharging or overcharging will be considered as a violation of terms and conditions and licence will be liable to be cancelled,” the document read.
The liquor vends will be operational from 10 am to 10 pm. They will remain closed on all dry days. In the Excise Policy 2021-22, the department had reduced the number of dry days from 21 to three. “In the old excise policy, there were 21 days when shops remained closed on important religious festivals and anniversaries of great personalities of the country. Since, the government has decided to go back to the old excise policy that was there before November 17, 2021, it is likely to retain the 21 dry days,” the officials said.
The government-run liquor vends will have a carpet area of 300 square feet and above, and would be in local shopping centres or commercial premises. In the Excise Policy 2021, the minimum carpet area of the vends was fixed at 500 square feet.