The Haryana government on Thursday said its decision to go in for fresh e-bidding of liquor vends in 42 zones, spanning three revenue districts of Faridabad, Gurugram (East) and Gurugram (West), where it suspected cartelisation had come in the way of realisation of their true revenue potential, has paid rich dividends.
Disclosing this, a spokesman of the Excise and Taxation Department said in the first round, where cartelization was suspected, the department received a cumulative bid amount of Rs 663.69 Crore in respect of these 42 zones.
But during the fresh e-bidding held subsequently on 27 and 28 March for these zones, the department received a cumulative bid amount of Rs 787.11 Crore, adding a whopping sum of Rs 123.42 Crore to the government kitty.
The decision to go in for fresh bidding, taken after due diligence and discussion with the Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, and the Excise and Taxation minister, Abhimanyu, has resulted in an increase of 18.6 per cent over the initial bid amount, clearly underscoring the success of the Excise Policy for 2018-19.
Giving details, the spokesman said during the first round of e-bidding held in all districts between 14 and 20 March, it was observed that all districts, except Gurugram (East), Gurugram (West) and Faridabad, witnessed high revenue growth, thereby realizing their true revenue potential.
Even districts like Sonepat, Panipat and Kaithal fetched revenue growth of more than 20 per cent, way ahead of the growth witnessed in earlier years.
But on the other hand, Gurugram (West) and Faridabad registered a negative growth of 4.08 per cent and 2.13 per cent respectively, in comparison to the license fee last year.
Although Gurugram (East) witnessed a meagre growth of 1.84 per cent, it no way represented true potential of the district.