The Excise and Taxation Department in Chandigarh will auction the remaining 11 liquor contracts today. From the very beginning, both disputes and action have been going on regarding the auction of contracts. Earlier, in the auction held on May 14, only 6 out of 17 liquor contracts could be sold. The department earned Rs 39.60 crore from these against the fixed price of Rs 24.32 crore.
At the same time, in the auction held on May 8, 11 out of 21 contracts were auctioned and the department got Rs 60.76 crore, while their reserve price was Rs 47.97 crore.
These liquor traders were blacklisted
Meanwhile, the department has taken strict action and blacklisted 7 big liquor traders. These traders were not able to deposit the security money within the stipulated time. The contracts whose licenses have been cancelled are located in Sector-20D (Vijender), Sector-22B 2 contracts (Kamal Karki, Ajay Mahara), Sector-22C 2 contracts (Kamal Karki, Ajay Mahara), Industrial Area Phase-1 (Nisha Karki) and opposite Manimajra Shivalik Garden (Neeraj Sharma). All these contracts will now be included in the auction again.
Orders given for recovery of dues
The department has clarified that this irresponsible attitude affects the auction process and raises questions on the transparency of bidding. This is the reason why these businessmen have been barred from participating in any future auction. Apart from this, other states and union territories have also been instructed to blacklist these businessmen and recover the dues.
In the biggest auction held on 21 March, 96 out of 97 contracts were successfully auctioned, which earned the government Rs 606 crore.
Earlier, in the third auction held on 29 April, only 7 out of 28 contracts could be auctioned. On 21 April, 48 contracts were auctioned, whose licenses were canceled due to non-submission of bank guarantee, but even then only 20 contracts were sold.
