CHANDIGARH: Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Sh. Dushyant Chautala while interacting with mediapersons here on Sunday said that any Gram Sabha of the state that does not want liquor vends to open in its village, can pass the proposal and send it to Haryana government through its Deputy Commissioner by March 15, 2021.
He said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the financial year started from May 19, 2020 instead of April 1, due to which this time it will start from May 20, 2021. At present, all the gram panchayats of the state have been dissolved, so those who don’t want liquor vends to open in their villages can pass their proposal in the gram sabha by March 15 and send it to the government through the Deputy Commissioner.
While sharing the details of the last two years, Dushyant Chautala, who also holds the portfolio of Excise and Taxation Department, said that 3048 proposals were sent to the government by the Panchayats for the closure of liquor vends in 2019-20, out of which only 57 proposals were accepted and 48 proposals were rejected, while the remainder were left out due to some objections. He said that during the year 2020-21, 898 proposals were received through Deputy Commissioners, out of which 430 villages were such where there was a complete ban on opening of liquor vends. Of those proposals, besides there were 468 cases in which multiple FIRs had been filed relating to sale of illicit liquor, due to which there was a ban on the sale of liquor there.
Sh. Dushyant Chautala said that during the last year, in the third-quarter, revenue of Rs. 1421 crore was collected, whereas in the third-quarter of this year, Rs. 1734 crore was collected as revenue. He said that it is noteworthy that 97 percent of the revenue collected in the last financial year was completed by the third quarter of this financial year. He said that by the end of the financial year, revenue collection is expected to be more than the target revenue. In the third quarter, additional excise duty to the tune of Rs 330 crore has been collected while Rs 140 crore has been collected as COVID-cess, he added. He said that a total of Rs 977.94 crore has been received as additional revenue in the last three quarters, which is an increase of about 19.85 percent over the previous year.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that while on one hand the State Government is making every effort to enhance the excise revenue in the state, on the other, there should be a complete ban on the sale of illicit liquor. While sharing the statistics of sale and penalty of illicit liquor during the last five years, he said that in the year 2016-17, a total of 619 cases of illicit liquor were seized on which a fine of Rs 12.83 crore was imposed. Similarly, in the year 2017-18, a total of 549 cases were seized, and a fine of 25.45 crore was imposed. A total of 567 cases were seized in the year 2018-19 and a fine of 18.44 crore while a total of 590 cases were seized in the year 2019-20 on which a fine of 3.69 crores was imposed. He said that the State Government has taken strict action during the current excise year 2020-21 and so far, 668 cases of illicit liquor have been siezed and a fine of Rs 90.13 crore has been recovered. He said that while the total revenue of Rs. 6361 crore was collected last year, this year revenue of Rs. 6214 crore has been collected until March 4, 2021, while this excise year will be till May 19, 2021. So, this year’s revenue is likely to be higher than the previous year, he added.