The Delhi Congress on Tuesday said that it would continue to oppose the city Government’s new liberalised excise policy.
Delhi Congress chief Ch. Anil Kumar said permission has been given to open liquor vends in residential areas, unauthorised colonies, JJ clusters and unauthorised buildings, without taking the consent of women groups, Residents’ Welfare Associations and religious bodies.
“Due to this retrograde policy, there are 18 Assembly constituencies which will have 216 new liquor vends, instead of the previous five. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, on one hand has promised to eradicate the vice of liquor and drug addiction in Punjab in his tours ahead of the election, and on the other hand is turning Delhi into a ‘Nashe Ki Rajdhani’ with a liberalised excise policy,” Mr. Kumar said.
Leader of the Congress party in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation Abhishek Dutt said that he will move a resolution in the House meeting on November 25 to oppose any move to open liquor vends in residential areas and unauthorised buildings. “The Kejriwal Government could provide only 440 jobs in the past seven years, but opened 864 liquor vends to make easy availability of liquor across Delhi,” Mr. Dutt said.
The Congress said the BJP and the AAP were silent on the excise policy and the BJP-ruled municipal corporations were giving no objection certificates to open liquor vends, which shows that both parties were working together.
