Delhi's old liquor policy to be back from August 1, announces Sisodia; slams BJP for 'threatening shopkeepers'

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Delhi liquor policy: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday spoke on the restoration of the old liquor policy in Delhi and said it will be back in force from August 1. He also slammed the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) for "threatening shopkeepers, officers". His statement came in the wake of the Delhi government's decision to go back to the old regime of retail liquor sales for six months. The decision was taken with just two days remaining for the current excise policy to expire.

"They (BJP) are threatening shopkeepers, officers with ED and CBI, they want legal liquor shops to be closed in Delhi and earn money from illegal shops. We've decided to stop the new liquor policy and ordered to open govt liquor shops," Sisodia said today.

Defending Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s new liquor policy, Sisodia said, "We brought a new liquor policy to stop corruption. Before that government used to get around Rs 6,000 Cr revenue from 850 liquor shops. But, after the new policy, our govt would have got more than Rs 9,000 Cr with the same number of shops."

On Thursday, Sisodia directed the excise department to "revert" to old regime of the excise policy for a period of six months till a fresh policy is in place.

According to an official document, the finance department has directed the excise commissioner to coordinate with the heads of four corporations of the Delhi government for details of liquor vends operated by them before the new excise policy came into effect from November 17, 2021.

The Excise Policy 2021-22, which was extended twice after March 31 for a period of two months each, will come to an end on July 31.

The excise department is still working on the Excise Policy 2022-23 that recommends, among other things, home delivery of liquor in Delhi.

The draft policy is yet to be sent to Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena for his approval, officials said.