The liquor tenders will be opened on Tuesday for 2020-2021. Under the new liquor policy, 324 groups have been formed. The contractors have submitted their bidding for 1070 foreign liquor shops and for 2541 country liquor shops.
The liquor shops in the state have been posing problems for state government. Since March 23, the shops were closed following COVID-19 pandemic. They remained closed till June 8.
When the government asked contractors to open shops, they refused and raised demands, which the government refused and decided to run shops with the help of government officials. They also formed 'short-term tender policy', in which the private contractors could operate shops.
Excise commissioner Rajiv Chandra Dubey said 324 groups have been formed for total liquor shops. He added that state government conducts bidding and the excise department runs shops as per tender provisions. He said government has completed tender process and they will be opened on Tuesday. The base price is set by government and the bidder files the rate above bidding amount.
Earlier, rates of Bhopal and Indore group were opened and were found to be less. The commissioner said if government does not get desired rates, it can call tenders again.
According to commissioner, the government formed two policies in which some shops are run by the excise department and some under the short term tender policy by traders. He added that 400 shops in the state are run by short term tender policy. Hopefully, they are doing good business and following government instructions. For 2019-20, the earlier Congress government had set state excise department's revenue target of Rs 13,000 crore.
