On the third day of the monsoon session of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Thursday, the Opposition staged a walkout on the issue of the auction of liquor contracts amid the uproar.
During the question hour, BJP MLA Randhir Sharma raised the issue of the allocation of contracts under the new liquor policy and accused the government of corruption on a large scale.
Spar between the ruling and opposition parties in the House erupted on this issue and the opposition members, dissatisfied with the answer of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, also raised slogans in the House and then walked out of the House.
Earlier, MLA Randhir Sharma said that the auction of liquor contracts in five districts of the state has been bid at a price lower than the reserve price.
He alleged that the scams in the auction of liquor contracts were done in collusion and that the contracts were given below the reserve price to benefit the contractors.
Alleging the scam happened in a planned manner under the protection of the government he demanded a judicial inquiry and re-auctioning of the liquor contracts.
Responding to this question, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh said that ever since his government has come to power, the government has been working with transparency.
Taking a dig at the previous BJP government, he said that when their government was in power, the treasury was looted.
“During their tenure, contracts were not auctioned for four years and only licenses were renewed t. The revenue from contracts was Rs 665.42 crore,” he claimed, whereas, during his one-year tenure, the government has raised a revenue of Rs 485.18 crore from the auction of liquor contracts.
The Chief Minister said that the auction of liquor contracts has been done in a completely transparent manner.
He further said that an online process was adopted for the allotment of contracts and no partiality has been done.
The entire process was done as per rules, he added.
The Chief Minister said, “This year contracts were auctioned seven times each in Nurpur and Una. Contracts were auctioned 6 times in Chamba, 8 times in Kangra, and nine times in Shimla. The government expects good income from this.”
The Chief Minister said that the state is moving towards self-reliance by changing the system and transparency is the main part of his government.
Randhir Sharma said that the Chief Minister has put forward his point very cleverly, while the reality is that there has been a reduction in the income of Rs 100 crore in the allotment of liquor contracts.
Alleging a big scam, Randhir Sharma said that its tenders were called in collusion and demanded for an investigation.
Randhir Sharma brought to the notice of the government that many contractors in the state are charging higher prices for liquor. He demanded strict action against such contractors.
Responding to it Chief Minister said that the government has made a provision to levy a fine of Rs 25 thousand to Rs 1 lakh for charging higher prices for liquor.
Meanwhile, the opposition members, dissatisfied with the Chief Minister’s reply, got up from their seats and started demanding a judicial inquiry into the process of auctioning contracts and walked out of the House by raising slogans.
On the walkout of the opposition, the Chief Minister said that his government has earned an income of Rs 485.18 crore in a year from liquor contracts, whereas during the tenure of the BJP government, the income was only Rs 665.42 crore.
In such a situation, the Leader of the Opposition should answer where the scam has taken place, he said.