Traders refuse bribes to excise officials
No more bribes to liquor officials due to steep hike in licence fee, say bizmen
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-09-19 06:52 GMT
Hyderabad: Liquor traders on Friday issued an ultimatum to corrupt excise officials, stating that they would no longer pay bribes to officials to run their businesses. They informed senior excise officials that they could not afford to pay bribes to officials due to the steep hike in license fees. Traders took up the issue at a meeting convened by the excise department to discuss the excise policy that will be implemented from October 1. High licence fee and corruption to set up liquor shops have led to poor response from applicants. Applicants complained to senior excise officials that they needed to pay 20 per cent of their margins to officials every year to run their businesses.
In GHMC limits, applicants have to pay Rs 2.16 crore licence fee, which is valid for two years. With three days left for the September 21 deadline to submit applications, the government, in its bid to attract applicants, is giving indications of hiking their profit margins by 20 per cent by hiking liquor prices. Though the notification calling applications to set up 2,218 liquor shops was issued last week, applications were filed for not even 10 per cent of the shops.
In GHMC limits, the response is poorer, with only about a dozen applications filed for about 225 shops. Officials, however, expect to get a large number of applications in the last two days. Principal secretary of excise Ajay Misra and commissioner Chandravadan, meanwhile, assured traders that they would take steps to make their department corruption-free and asked them to submit applications without any worry. “We are thankful to Ajay Misra and Chandravadan for assuring us of corruption-free functioning in the excise department. We also urge our fellow traders not to indulge in malpractices and comply with the norms laid down in the new excise policy,” said D. Venkateshwar Rao, president, Telangana State Wine Dealers Association.
Meanwhile, the TS Excise Gazetted Officers' Association, in a release stated that all officers and staff in the department would adopt transparency in allotment of liquor shops, giving no scope for graft, and asked traders to file complaints with senior officials against those who demanded bribes.