RANCHI: Retail liquor sellers of Jharkhand on Friday submitted a memorandum to Vinay Kumar Choubey, the secretary of the state department of excise and prohibitions, and sought a waiver in the monthly excise transport duty (ETD) citing poor sales figures due to the curtailed business hours.
Under the banner of Jharkhand Khudra Sharab Vikreta Sangh (JKSVS), the umbrella association of retail liquor sellers of the state, the retailers reached the excise department’s office in Kanke Road and handed over the memorandum seeking necessary action in this regard.
“As per the conditions of the licence, liquor shops are supposed to be open from 10am to 10pm on normal days.
But from April 23 this year, shops were allowed to remain open till 2pm.
Although the lockdown orders were modified on May 28, the liquor shops were allowed to operate till 4pm but had to be shut on Sundays due to the complete lockdown.
In this fashion, the shops were allowed to open for six hours on average, which resulted in a drop of sales by around 65%,” the JKSVS said in its memorandum.
“The department gave us a waiver of 50% in the ETD, which compelled us to file a writ petition in the Jharkhand high court.
The court directed us to file a petition with the excise commissioner.
When we visited the excise department’s headquarters, there was no one.
We filed an email with the excise commissioner on Thursday, but nothing has moved in that direction.
Due to lockdown, the sales are poor than expectation and on the other hand, the government wants full revenue,” JKSVS president Achintya Saw said.
As per the existing policies, a retail seller has to pay anywhere between Rs 25-32 lakh a month to the excise department in excise transport duty.
With reduced business hours, the retailers said they cannot recover the ETD payout due to low sales.
Saw said: “When we did not find the secretary in the excise department, we met him at Project Building.
However, there was no assurance from his side.
If the government does not take a call on the revenue, we will hand over the keys of our shops to the government.”