No takers: Only 3 liquor vends sold in Chandigarh’s 7th auction

Despite slashing the reserve price by 25%, only three out of the 25 available liquor vends in Chandigarh went under the hammer during the seventh auction held on Tuesday. With this, out of the total of 95 vends in the city, 73 vends have been sold and 22 are still awaiting buyers.

Three liquor vends – Sector 40-D, 18, and 26 – were sold on Tuesday.

The liquor vend in Sector 40-D went for ₹7.2 crores, the Sector 18 liquor went for ₹3.18 crore against the reserve price of ₹3.17 crore, while the liquor vend in Sector 26 went for ₹4 crore against the reserve price of ₹3.98 crore.

In the sixth auction, which was held on April 11, the department found no takers despite the reserve price being slashed by 20%.

A senior official of the department said, “We were only able to sell three vends. We will again slash the reserve price for the eighth auction. The auctions will continue till we sell all the vends. For the first time, we are compelled to slash the reserve price by 25%. It has happened due to Punjab liquor policy.”

For the financial year 2023-24, the department has fixed a target of ₹830 crore for liquor vends’ license fees. Having earned only ₹390 crores so far from six auctions, it is staring at a revenue gap of ₹440 crore.

The liquor vend at Dhanas, located near Mullanpur, which fetched the highest bid in the past two years, failed to find takers this time. 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, the vend had again received the highest bid of ₹11.55 crore, against the reserve price of ₹7.95 crore.