Liquor vends to open in Ludhiana from May 15; no home delivery
Contractors to meet ministers regarding their grievances about losses incurred due to the lockdown
A week after the state government allowed sale of liquor, contractors in Ludhiana district have decided to open liquor vends from Friday onwards.
Ruing losses, the contractors were adamant on keeping their vends closed till Thursday morning stating that the state government had failed to provide any major relief to the sector.
However, a group of contractors conducted a meeting with the deputy excise and taxation commissioner Pawan Garg on Thursday and a meeting between contractors and a group of ministers, including Manpreet Singh Badal (finance), Vijay Inder Singla (education) and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria (housing and urban development), has been scheduled for Friday.
By Thursday evening, several wine shops had opened in the district.
Neeraj Kapoor, a liquor contractor, said, “The contractors have decided to open the vends for now, as the government has assured to look into their grievances.”
Leading a group of contractors in the district, Varinder Sharma said only over-the-counter sales would be done and there will be no home delivery.
There are around 750 vends in the district, including those in Khanna, Samrala and Jagraon. The state government earns an annual revenue of around ₹1,100 crore from liquor vends, which comes to over ₹3 crore on a daily basis.
The government had allowed the contractors to open the vends on May 6, but they had been demanding compensation for the losses incurred in the last financial year due to imposition of curfew on March 23 and review of excise policy 2020-2021 including withdrawal of quota condition.