MARGAO: Opposition parties on Saturday demanded the immediate withdrawal of the mobile app introduced by the Excise Department whereby bar and tavern owners will have to upload their sale records every day.
Goa Forward Party and the Congress said that it is aimed at only troubling the common man and making life difficult for them.
“With mining industry closed down and tourism facing a slump, this additional burden on the bar and restaurant owners who are basically the common Goan population is surely not welcome,” chorused both the parties.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat, in a press note, said that given the fact that there is no network connectivity and frequent call drops, working the app will be troublesome and unnecessary burden on the hardworking bar and tavern owner who will have to upload the amount of liquor purchased and sold on daily basis.
Spokesperson of Goa Forward Party Prashant Naik wondered whether this was a ruse by the government to provide employment opportunities as most bar owners will have to employ a person who knows how to use a smart phone to upload the records daily as most bar and tavern owners in the villages do not have a smart phone.
While Digambar pointed out that many of the bars are family-run business which are at times managed entirely by the lady of the house, Prashant pointed out that most of the taverns are single managed outlets and both pointed out that it would be difficult for these owners to upload their records every day.
In fact, Prashant said, it would be difficult for the retailers to provide the record even on a monthly basis given the fact that they sell small measures and pointed out the record of sales is available with the distilleries or the whole sale vendors and could be collected from them.
“Local alcohol like urak and feni is purchased in a measure called kollso and how do you keep a record of this as kollso is of varying measures,” Prashant said while pointing out that the measure is not necessary in litres.
Kamat expressed surprise that the Excise Department has made this rule mandatory now at a time when the tourism industry has got a major setback in the collapse of the major travel operator Thomas Cook which is bound to affect the tourists’ flow to Goa.
While both Digambar and Prashant demanded that the rule be immediately withdrawn, Prashant demanded that the Excise Rules be also amended to remove this particular rule and threatened to picket in front of taluka Excise office if the app is not withdrawn within 30 days.
