New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) The Delhi government means business and is committed to walk the talk on corruption, Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said on Tuesday, hailing Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s move to table the CAG report on excise policy in the Assembly.
Addressing media persons in a joint briefing with MPs Manoj Tiwari and Praveen Khandelwal, Sachdeva said the truth about the loot, corruption, and deception that AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Atishi had been trying to cover up for the past decade is now out in the open.
Sachdeva stated that the CAG report is the government’s financial record and should have been presented earlier.
“Despite judicial intervention, the previous government kept ignoring it. Now that Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has made the liquor scam report public, several revelations have surfaced — the most significant being that Arvind Kejriwal is the biggest middleman for the liquor lobby,” he said.
He further claimed that the liquor scam caused a massive revenue loss of Rs 2,002.68 crore, along with a Rs 941.53 crore loss due to the non-opening of liquor shops in non-conforming wards. An additional Rs 890 crore loss occurred due to the failure to re-tender surrendered licenses.
The Delhi BJP chief said Rs 144 crore was waived for zonal licensees under the pretext of Covid-19 relief, and Rs 27 crore was lost due to the government’s failure to collect security deposits properly.
Sachdeva alleged that rules were violated in license distribution and wholesale licenses were given to those linked with retail and manufacturing companies, leading to a corrupt supply chain. “By increasing profit margins, wholesalers benefited while the government’s revenue suffered — a direct result of Kejriwal’s policies,” he said.
He added that the new excise policy removed government control and handed over the market to private companies. In several cases, commercial licenses were wrongly issued for shops operating illegally.
Liquor licences were issued without quality check reports, and Kejriwal and his team must answer for these actions, said the Delhi BJP chief.
Sachdeva claimed those involved in these corrupt practices will be held accountable.
MP Manoj Tiwari expressed shock at the CAG report’s exposure of a Rs 2,000 crore-plus scam, comparing it to the Rs 214 crore scam that sent Lalu Yadav to jail — highlighting that Delhi’s liquor scam is ten times bigger than that.
He accused Kejriwal of bypassing regulations to implement this liquor policy, which is why his government had been afraid to present the CAG report in the Assembly for years.
He called for severe punishment for those involved in the scam so that future offenders think twice before engaging in corruption.
Khandelwal stated that the ruthless looting of Delhi over the past 10 years resulted in over Rs 2,000 crore in losses, making it clear that the entire system was corrupt.
He pointed out that the profit margin for wholesale vendors was increased from 5 per cent to 12 per cent, while no quality control labs were ever established despite promises.
Khandelwal also revealed that a single applicant was allowed to operate 54 liquor shops, violating earlier limits of two shops — encouraging monopolies.
–IANS
rch/pgh
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