Chandigarh: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP from Bathinda Harsimrat Kaur Badal Monday requested Union Residence Minister Amit Shah to research an alleged liquor rip-off in Punjab involving the Aam Aadmi Get together (AAP) authorities within the state, claiming that it has brought on loss price “tons of of crores” to the state exchequer.
Badal, a former Union minister, alleged that the rip-off was much like the one which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have been probing in Delhi, with a few of the identical individuals concerned, and sought a probe by the 2 central businesses in Punjab as effectively.
She had additionally raised the problem in Parliament on 3 August and was informed by the house minister to submit a illustration.
In a press release issued Monday night, Badal alleged that the Punjab excise coverage “smacked of corruption” and had “brought on a lack of tons of of crores to the state exchequer.”
In a letter to Shah, Badal mentioned, “The target of the Punjab excise coverage was the identical because the Delhi one — handy over the whole wholesale liquor commerce to a couple firms (on this case two), moreover doubling their revenue margins. The purported intention was to facilitate a quid professional quo beneath which there are allegations that tons of of crores have been handed again to the AAP authorities in Punjab and the AAP excessive command in Delhi”.
Wrote to residence minister @AmitShah ji to demand a free and truthful CBI and ED probe into the Punjab excise coverage, which is a duplicate of the Delhi coverage which is already being probed by the CBI and ED, and has brought on a lack of tons of of crores to the State exchequer.
Additionally… pic.twitter.com/Pfbjobjzfr— Harsimrat Kaur Badal (@HarsimratBadal_) August 7, 2023
She added that the way during which the coverage was framed in Delhi had additionally compromised the official information of the state. “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and the state excise minister are immediately accountable for a similar,” she alleged.
In the meantime, reacting to the letter, AAP spokesperson in Punjab, Malvinder Singh Kang mentioned that within the 10 years of Shiromani Akali Dal rule within the state from 2007 to 2017, the federal government had misplaced income price Rs 25,000 crore as a result of excise coverage.
“The AAP authorities in Punjab has elevated the income from excise by Rs 2,587 crore in only one 12 months. However within the 10 years of your rule, you crammed your individual coffers, which must be probed,” Kang wrote on X (previously Twitter).
Badal in her illustration had claimed that, since this was a matter of public significance, it was crucial to determine the extent of the loot of the Punjab state exchequer and guarantee punishment of these responsible of the identical.
Based on her, a SAD delegation headed by occasion president Sukhbir Singh Badal had even approached the Punjab Governor on 31 August, 2022, and urged him to order an investigation into the Punjab excise coverage.
The delegation, she added, had highlighted how the Punjab coverage was framed by Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, MP Raghav Chadha and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann with the intention of “giving undue enrichment to the favourites of the Aam Aadmi Get together (AAP) at the price of the state exchequer.”
The SAD had appealed to the Governor to take motion beneath Part 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, for which he was empowered.
ThePrint reached AAP Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Raghav Chadha and Malvinder Singh Kang, the official spokesperson of the AAP in Punjab, by way of textual content messages for a response to the allegations. The report can be up to date as soon as a response is obtained.
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Delhi and Punjab excise insurance policies
Badal mentioned the Delhi and Punjab excise insurance policies had clear similarities.
“Each make it necessary that L-1 licensees shouldn’t be manufactured wherever in India or overseas,” she claimed, including that these phrases, together with a situation that licensees ought to have a turnover of at the least Rs 30 crore yearly had successfully ousted the Punjab liquor merchants from the enterprise within the state.
She knowledgeable the house minister that these provisions have been additionally in opposition to the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, and Punjab Liquor License Guidelines, 1956, that allowed aggressive bidding. She additionally detailed how practically the whole wholesale liquor commerce in Punjab was handed over to solely two firms.
The Bathinda MP claimed that SAD had revealed how preliminary conferences to border the Punjab excise coverage have been taken by MP Raghav Chadha at Hyatt lodge in Chandigarh in a set on the fifth flooring. She alleged that following this, Sisodia hosted one other assembly at his residence in Delhi on 30 Might, 2022 at 4 pm, which was attended by Raghav Chadha with senior Punjab authorities officers.
“The ultimate assembly to finalise all modalities was once more hosted by Sisodia at his residence in Delhi on 6 June, 2022. All these particulars could be collaborated by in search of the CCTV footage of Sisodia’s residence as effectively tower location particulars of the individuals concerned”, mentioned Badal.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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