"The Lieutenant Governor (LG) took a U-turn to benefit some liquor shop owners. The LG changed his own policy as approved 48 hours earlier. Due to his decision, thousands of crores were lost to the government and some shopkeepers got the benefit of thousands of crores. I've written to the CBI to probe ex-LG's change of stance on opening of liquor shops in unauthorized areas," Sisodia alleged in a press conference on Saturday.
Manish Sisodia is currently facing fire from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is accusing the Deputy chief minister of corruption in the implementation of the liquor policy.
"Under the new excise policy, 849 shops were to be opened across Delhi, including in unauthorized areas. The LG did not object to the proposal and approved it," Sisodia said.
The minister claims that the LG had changed its position two days before the implementation of the policy. The LG introduced the condition of taking permission from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The Delhi Government prepared the new excise policy when Anil Baijal was the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi. The excise policy was implemented on 17 November 2021 and gave licenses to private liquor vendors.
The new Lieutenant Governor of Delhi VK Saxena highlighted holes in the policy and asked for a CBI probe after which the Delhi government withdrew the excise policy. The new excise policy will come to an end on 31 August and the Delhi government corporations will run retail liquor vends from September 1 and there will be no private players in the segment.
VK Saxena also took a serious view of delays by investigating agencies like Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) and the Directorate of Vigilance (DoV) while investigating the complaints of corruption against government officials.
He also expressed displeasure over administrative departments delaying information sought by the investigating agencies in complaints against the concerned officials, according to an official statement.
With Inputs from ANI.
