The alleged liquor scam has become a big issue amid the assembly elections in Delhi. BJP has cornered the ruling Aam Aadmi Party by citing the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report. BJP claims that Delhi has suffered a loss of more than Rs 2,000 crore due to the liquor policy scam. Claimed that many AAP leaders received bribes. At the same time, AAP has hit back on this issue. Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh asked, where is the CAG report…where are these claims coming from.
BJP has released the leaked report of CAG. BJP has also accused the Delhi government of ignoring the recommendations of the expert panel.
BJP sources say that shocking facts have come to light in the CAG report. The government exchequer has suffered a loss of Rs 2,026 crore due to the liquor scam. BJP says that there has been a mistake in implementing the policy. AAP leaders have also received bribes. This is the first time that the loss figures from liquor scam have been revealed.
‘Recommendations were ignored’
BJP sources say this shows that the Manish Sisodia-led GOM had ignored the recommendations of the expert panel. After complaints, all institutions were allowed to bid. The financial condition of the bidders was not taken into account before issuing the licenses.
‘Approval not taken’
BJP sources claim that the report states that a unit showed losses, yet the license was renewed. Violations were committed in issuing the license. Moreover, those who flouted the rules were not punished. There was also a lack of transparency in pricing. Cabinet approval or the approval of the Lieutenant Governor was not taken on many major decisions.
The approval of excise rules should be placed before the Assembly, but this was not done.
The CAG report said that while some retailers retained the licenses till the end of the policy period, some surrendered the licenses even before the end of the policy period. Because the government did not re-tender the surrendered retail licenses, it resulted in a burden of about Rs 890 crore on the exchequer. There was a loss of Rs 941 crore due to the exemption given to zonal licensees. License fee waiver of Rs 144 crore was given to zonal licensees on the basis of Covid restrictions, resulting in loss of revenue to the government.
There was further loss of Rs 27 crore in revenue due to incorrect collection of security deposits. CAG has said that responsibility and accountability should be fixed for the mistakes that have been made. According to the report, due to this reason the objectives of the policy could not be achieved. The most important thing is that there could not be equal distribution of shops.
What did AAP leader Sanjay Singh say?
On BJP’s claim regarding liquor scam, AAP leader Sanjay Singh said, where is this CAG report? Where are these claims coming from? Has this been filed in the BJP office? He said, BJP leaders have lost their mental balance. On one hand they claim that the CAG report has not been presented, on the other hand they make such claims?
