Two vends cross Rs 3 cr, five Rs 2 cr, 34 Rs one cr
e*20 existing licensees retain shops
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Apr 19: In a major revenue booster for the Jammu and Kashmir Government, e-auction of 228 liquor shops in the Union Territory today fetched Rs 140 crore for one year as against just Rs 10 crore earlier as two vends were auctioned for more than Rs three crore, five at above Rs two crore, 34 beyond Rs one crore and 51 crossed Rs 50 lakh.
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“There has been 14 times increase in revenue to the Jammu and Kashmir Government from e-auction of liquor vends and the amount will be used for development purposes,” official sources told the Excelsior.
The e-auction of all 228 liquor shops in which 800 persons participated ended this afternoon with each location being auctioned for 72 hours, they said.
During last financial year, the Government had earned just Rs 10 crore revenue from the liquor shops. The e-auction this year fetched Rs 140 crore to the Government, which comes out at Rs 60 lakh per vend on an average as against just Rs four lakh per vend previously, an increase of 14 times.
However, some people as well as outgoing licensees told the Excelsior that many influential persons have managed to get more than one license, some of them even in double digits, by fielding proxies.
“There are many names in the list, who have secured liquor shops, who by no means have the amount of which they have given bid to secure licenses. They are just proxies of certain influential persons,” the outgoing licensees said and demanded that the matter should be investigated.
Excise Commissioner Rahul Sharma, however, said there was completely transparency in the auction and the list is in public domain.
More than 20 existing licensees retained their shops being the highest bidders for the locations. As per the new Excise Policy, only domiciles of J&K were eligible for participation in the auction process and only one vend was allotted to one individual.
“The auction was conducted online, maintaining secrecy of the bidder and ensuring anonymous participation without any fear from any pressure group,” sources said.
Two liquor shops including one each in Srinagar and Kathua fetched over Rs three crore each.
Liquor vend at Cantonment Board in Srinagar went to Surjeet Kumar for highest bid of Rs 3.46 crore while liquor shop at Kathua Municipal Ward No. 21 was auctioned for Rs 3.1 crore to M/s Teen Murti Associates Private Limited.
Five shops gave the Government more than Rs two crore each.
e-auction of liquor vend at Hiranagar Town Area Committee in Ward No. 1 of Kathua district yielded the Government Rs 2.63 crore from the bidder Sat Pal while another liquor shop at Kathua in Municipal Committee Ward No. 1 was secured by Vijay Gupta for Rs 2.25 crore.
Seema Choudhary got the liquor vend at Ramnagar Town Area Committee in Ward No. 5 in Udhampur district for Rs 2.12 crore while Sara got the liquor shop at Jourian Town Area Committee Ward No. 6 in Akhnoor for Rs 2.11 crore. Jia Lal got the JMC Ward 61 vend for Rs 2.06 crore.
Liquor vend in Srinagar Municipal Corporation-B went for Rs 1.55 crore to Bansi Lal while the vend at SMC-C was auctioned for Rs 1.07 crore to Bhanu Partap Singh.
As many as 34 shops gave the Government more than Rs one crore each.
Liquor shop at village Domana in Jammu North Excise Range was secured by Bharat Choudhary for Rs 1.63 crore. Anita Sharma got the liquor shop at Ramgarh Town Area Committee, Ward 3 in Samba district for Rs 1.39 crore.
Shiv Kumar Sharma secured liquor license at Samba Municipal Committee Ward 12 A for Rs 1.28 crore, Kamal Gupta at Akhnoor Town Area Committee Ward 9 for Rs 1.02 crore, Amit Kumar Abrol at Ramban Municipal Committee Ward No. 1 for Rs 1.78 crore, Sarveshwar Sharma at Vijaypur Town Area Committee, Ward 5 in Samba district at Rs 1.21 crore, Meenu Singh at Ramban Municipal Committee Ward No. 2 for Rs 1.03 crore, Fallail Singh Rs 1.01 crore at Nowshera TAC Ward No. 2, Rameshwar Singh at Rs 1.25 crore at Rajouri Municipal Committee Ward 5, Jagdish Raj at Jammu Municipal Corporation Ward 58 for Rs 1.19 crore, Neelam at JMC Ward 18 for Rs 1.15 crore, Amit Kumar Chowdhary at JMC Ward 69 for Rs 1.55 crore, Gourav Abrol at Rs 1.46 crore at Manthal Panchayat Mand in Udhampur, Balraj Singh Charak Rs 1.36 crore at RS Pura TAC Ward 10 A, M/s Oberois Advisory Services Private Limited for Rs 1.4 crore at Sunderbani TAC Ward 4, Single for Rs 1.72 crore at Panchayat Trehara in Kathua, Raj Kumar Sharma at Billawar TAC Ward 11 for Rs 1.01 crore, Monika Sharma at Upper Rhembal Panchayat in Udhampur for Rs 1.77 crore, Priyanka Vaid at Chenani TAC Ward 1 for Rs 1.5 crore, Sameer Abrol at JMC Ward 66 B for Rs 1.62 crore, Anuradha Wine Traders at Kathua MC Ward 5 A at Rs 1.2 crore, Sahil Verma at Kathua MC Ward 5B for Rs 1.41 cr, Jagdeep Singh at Udhampur MC Ward 4 A for Rs 1.01 crore, Jyoti Malhotra at Udhampur MC Ward 4 B for Rs 1.86 crore, M/s Aggarwal Property Mart Private Limited at Lakhanpur TAC Ward 7 for Rs 1.72 crore, Balwant Singh at Udhampur MC Ward 18 for Rs 1.03 crore, Rimjhim Sharma at Chack Nazer Panchayat in Nandpur Samba for Rs 1.1 crore, Kuldeep Singh at Udrana-A Bhaderwah at Rs 1.03 crore, Vinay Verma at JMC Ward 49 F for Rs 1.92 crore, Sumit Sudan at Bari Brahamana TAC Ward 12 for Rs 1.22 crore and Ajay Chowdhary at JMC Ward 56 for Rs 1.68 crore.
Three shops were auctioned between Rs 5 lakh to Rs 5.25 lakh only.
Daljit Singh secured JMC Ward 9A liquor vend for just Rs five lakh.
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