UT likely to get new excise policy in February
For this, officers of Chandigarh excise and taxation department are preparing to discuss the policy with administrator Banwari Lal Purohit in January, so that after his approval the policy can be issued in February
With Chandigarh’s excise and taxation policy failing to attract vendors in 2023-24, the department is planning to announce the new excise policy 2024-25 in February 2024, before the imposition of code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections, the department officials said on Sunday.
The new policy will be implemented from April 1, 2024.
For this, officers of Chandigarh excise and taxation department are preparing to discuss the policy with administrator Banwari Lal Purohit in January, so that after his approval the policy can be issued in February.
“We are in a hurry to formulate the policy as the process to auction the liquor vends will stop if code of conduct is imposed. We had sought suggestions for the policy from various stakeholders and that are being considered to form the new policy,” said department officials, privy to the development.
For the first time in 2023-24, the department suffered a loss of nearly ₹150 crore this financial year, after 18 of its liquor vends found no takers in the 20 e-auctions held in the past nine months. Out of a total of 95 liquor vends, 18 went unsold, following which the department increased the liquor quota of existing liquor vends for the remaining months.
For the financial year 2023-24, the department had established a revenue target of ₹830 crore from liquor vend licence fees. However, only ₹600 crore has been collected so far.
The revenue was to come in the form of licence fees for these vends. The fee ranges from ₹3 crore to ₹15 crore depending upon the location of the vend.
