Team herald
MARGAO: The Liquor Vendors Association at a meeting in Margao called for the establishment of a State-run liquor corporation.
On the association’s behalf, Arun Raikar pointed that the association had presented a memorandum regarding the setting-up of a liquor corporation to the 2003 BJP government under the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar. He demanded an intervention from the current government.
“You look at other states in India like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam; they have such corporations. This will create a level playing field for us retailers and also allow the government an opportunity to employ 2,000-2,500 employees,” said Raikar.
The association also criticized the state government for introducing a rule last year that allowed retail liquor vendors to keep their shops open only from 8 am to 9 pm. It demanded that the closing timing be relaxed to at least 10 -10.30 pm.
“The business picks up only late in the evening, and so the fact that we are forced to shut our stores early means we are losing out on business. These are the peak hours for us and this rule is detrimental to our business community,” said Raikar.
He also demanded the relaxation of various license fees and taxes imposed by the government. He pointed out that the 22 per cent VAT the liquor vendors had to pay was unreasonable and completely wiped out their profit margin.
He also requested the government to look at addressing the association through this single window as the vendors currently had to deal with various government departments like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), besides getting permissions for fire safety, etc.
He reasoned that the FDA should not apply to them as they did not handle bottling or manufacturing. Instead, it should be directed at the factories. He also pointed out that the fire and safety regulations cause the retail vendors several difficulties that needed to be addressed.
The association members also expressed their reservations at the distributors for creating a non-conducive market environment for the retail vendors, and requested the government to intervene and solve their grievances.
