Liquor merchants in Karnataka threaten to shut shop on November 20 to protest against alleged corruption

Liquor traders across Karnataka have threatened to protest against the alleged corruption in the Excise Department by closing all their stores on November 20.

They are demanding that the Minister who is in charge of the Finance Department (which is Chief Minister Siddaramaiah) should also take charge of the Excise Department as it is a department without any grants.

Hundreds of liquor trading licence holders gathered at Freedom Park in Bengaluru recently, under the umbrella of the Federation of Wine Merchants Association Karnataka, Bengaluru, to condemn alleged corruption.

The protesters alleged that since officials are being asked to give bribe to higher authorities for transfers and promotions, those officials are demanding bribe from liquor merchants. They also said that even as the liquor licence holders have been protesting for years to find solutions to their various problems, no governments have paid heed to them.

“As the demand of officials for bribe keeps growing, there has been an increase in the availability of counterfeit and inter-State liquor in Karnataka. The State’s Enforcement Department has failed to control this and is only troubling the license holders. Due to this, the excise revenue of the State has taken a hit. The excise officials are so strong that we have still not been able to reach the Chief Minister with our issues,” a letter from the federation said.

Taking to social media on the issue, BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra called it a “₹700-crore liquor scam”. He further called it “staggering extortion racket run by Excise Minister R.B. Thimmapur”.

Published - November 05, 2024 09:51 pm IST