- Asks Bhagwant Mann to immediately order a probe to check the ongoing menace
- Also urges ECI to hold an inquiry to ensure free & fair polls
Chandigarh: Senior Congress leader & Punjab’s leader of the opposition (LoP), Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday criticized the Bhagwant Mann government for its failure to check liquor smuggling to other states including Gujarat.
Bajwa said Gujarat was a dry state where there has been a complete ban on the sale of liquor due to the enforcement of prohibition by the state government. Besides very soon Gujarat was going for the state assembly polls once the Election Commission of India announced it.
Amidst the aforesaid scenario, Punjab-made liquor was being smuggled with impunity to Gujarat to influence the voters. In fact, some of the media reports even revealed that Punjab-made liquor was being smuggled to the dry state of Bihar as well as to the neighboring state of Haryana.
Recently the Punjab Police unearthed a nexus wherein the liquor meant to be sold at the state vends was allegedly being smuggled to “poll-bound Gujarat”.
The Patiala police team seized around 600 cartons of illicit liquor from a truck. Similarly, Khoda police seized illicit liquor worth Rs. 54 lakh. The consignment was being supplied from Punjab Uttar Pradesh.
About two months ago the CIA wing of Jind police in Haryana had arrested a man for illegally supplying liquor from Punjab to Gujarat.
Bajwa said these incidents were just the tip of the iceberg.
“ Ever since the Punjab government introduced the new Excise Policy and has given a free hand to the distilleries and liquor groups to sell as much liquor in the state in its bid to enhance revenue the problem of smuggling to other states has come to the fore from all across India”, said Bajwa.
Bajwa said the Bhagwant Mann government should immediately take note of this problem and get to the bottom of the issue so that the smuggling of illegal liquor to other states could be stopped immediately.
Bajwa also urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to also take note of this so that free and fair polls were conducted in Gujarat.