Despite extending the date thrice, not many liquor shop owners showed interest to continue due to new excise policy. (Representative image)
JAIPUR: As only 1,992 liquor shop owners have renewed licences this year in all seven divisions of the state, the excise department will have to organise e-auction once again for majority of its shops.
Despite extending the date thrice, not many liquor shop owners showed interest to continue due to new excise policy. Now, the department will put 5,673 shops under hammer.
Though the department had issued an ultimatum to ‘blacklist’ those who do not get their licence renewed, the traders did not come forward as they claim the business is not economically viable after implementing the new rules.
“A warning was issued to all shopkeepers who had qualified. They department announced if they do not renew their licence, even their family members will be blacklisted and they will not be allowed to participate in the auction. But, it helped a little,” said a source at excise department.
A liquor trader said that the department is renewing licence based on last year’s highest bidding price and not on the reserve price. This is discouraging traders. For instance, if the department had fixed Rs 1 lakh as reserve price to bid for a shop last year and a trader had quoted Rs 2 crore to win the bid, this year, the department is considering the maximum bid as reserve price and charging a renewal fee on it as per the slab. As per the new policy, booze shops need to renew their licence every two years instead of one. “The traders will be bound to renew the shops at higher reserve price, if they do it this year. This is risky and a major reason why traders are scared to continue,” said a trader.
Directions have also been given to fix the reserve price for remaining liquor shops as department will have to auction these shops.
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