Jamshedpur, June 29: The auctions for the retailership of country-made liquor, spice liquor and Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) shops was conducted today, just one day before the expiry of the deadline.
The bid took place amid protests by liquor shop owners of the district. Nearly 156 liquor shop licence-holders were present at the civil defence office for the auction. Police had beefed up security at the office.
The bid finally went to Gwalior-based liquor magnate Surjeet Singh Bhatia, who deposited an earnest amount of Rs 4.5 crore on June 5. M/s Laxmi Narayan Ram Swaroop & Co. run by Bhatia functions in 23 districts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The company had made successful bids in six others districts, apart from East Singhbhum, earlier.
The company will take over all outlets in the district from July 1. The deal was finalised this evening in the presence of deputy commissioner, Sunil Kumar Burnwal, state excise assistant commissioner R.L. Sahni and Ramesh Chandra Jaiswal, a representative of the company.
The Gwalior-based company has bagged the license for three years — from July 1 to March 31, 2007 — paying an advance amount of Rs 28.78 crore for one year. The company will have to pay around Rs 2.38 crore per month for the next three years.
There is resentment among licence-holders of the district regarding the new excise policy. Under the earlier policy, auctions were held for individual shops. Now only one individual will get the license to lift the entire quota of liquor for the district.
Local dealers believe that the one-man ownership would not only hamper their business but also leave several people many associated with these liquor shops jobless. “There are more than 300 people employed in this business, once an outsider takes over, there are chances that all of them will be jobless. Though there is a possibility that the new retailer will take us all of us into confidence and work jointly, but even then the terms and conditions will be all his,” said a city-based retailer.
The fallout would be that prices would shoot up from July 1. “The company is paying an heavy amount to the government so the new retailer is sure to increase prices by nearly 50 to 60 per cent. All that the government is concerned about is the revenue that it will collect, irrespective of the fact that the consumers would have to bear the brunt,” said another retailer.
Despite the resentment, Laxmi Narayan Ram Swaroop & Co. is confident about garnering the support of liquor dealers in the city. “Prices may increase but we will see to it that there is no illegal market functioning,” said Jaiswal.
