A total of 76 retail liquor shops across East Singhbhum were auctioned off through lottery amid tight security bandobast at the district collectorate on Monday, fetching the excise department around Rs 3.82 crore.

The selected bidders will get the licence for running the shops - 48 Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), 26 country-made liquor and two composite liquor outlets - for a year from April 1.

According to sources, a total of 267 applicants took part in the first day of the auction for 2015-16 held by the district excise department in the presence of deputy commissioner Amitabh Kaushal.

The auctioning for another 75 shops will be held next Monday (March 23).

As per the state excise department norms, auction of retail liquor outlets is done in three segments - IMFL, country liquor and composite. The licence for composite shops is given only for rural areas for selling IMFL, country made liquor and locally brewed liquor.

'We have divided the 161 liquor shops, comprising 92 IMFL, 54 country liquor and 15 composite liquor outlets, into 58 groups. Today (Monday), the auction process was held for 26 groups as per the state liquor policy-2009 through lottery that fetched us a settlement amount of over Rs 3.82 crore. The remaining outlets will be auctioned next week,' said assistant commissioner (excise), Jamshedpur, Arvind Kujur.

Also, bidders applying for shops in urban areas paid Rs 8,000 each while those seeking shops in rural areas had to shell out Rs 5,000 as application fees for taking part in the auction process. Though most of the applicants were from Jamshedpur, people from other parts of the state, neighbouring Bihar, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, also took part in the auction.

With Rs 6.7 crore per month income, the district excise department has been the highest revenue earner in the state, vindicating the hype and excitement over the auction of liquor shops. 'East Singhbhum adds over Rs 80 crore to the state exchequer annually. We have been given a monthly target of Rs 7.55 crore for the 2015-16 fiscal,' said Kujur.

Strict security arrangement was made at the district collectorate to prevent rogue elements, if any, from creating any nuisance.