ROOT OUT LIQUOR MAFIA
It is too early to say that the wings of the liquor mafia have been cut by the incumbent dispensation in J&K because the government itself knows that those having huge stakes in liquor business will not surrender so easily as the saying goes ‘old habits die hard’. The government’s new excise policy has also seems to be inept to tighten noose around the mafia which is ruling the roost in the UT of J&K since long time back. But with all this happening in J&K, one cannot raise fingers on the intention rather good intention of the government to clean the mess as people sitting at helm are doing their best to make things transparent and end the Mafia Raaj as far as liquor business worth hundreds of crores is concerned. As reports are suggesting the government is afoot to find out the loopholes in the new excise policy to make things work in genuine and discrimination-free manner. In this regard, Department of Excise has sought bank transaction detail of the highest bidders for the licenses of retail vends of liquor in Jammu Kashmir Union Territory. It is pertinent to mention that direction has been issued to all the H1 (highest) bidders to furnish the bank transaction details to the Excise Department for the issuance JKEL-2 (license for the Retail Vends) for the year 2021-22 but allegedly those bidders who know that there may be discrepancies in the aforesaid statements are dilly-dallying in the matter thus snarling the process of opening up liquor vends for the current fiscal year as maximum among all are still closed due to this lacunae. It is time for the liquor mafia to know well that the present administration in J&K staunchly believes in accountability, transparency and corruption-free governance therefore it is advisable for constituents of the aforesaid mafia to change their base to somewhere else as their days are over in J&K. Reportedly, the government has by now confirmed that proxies are being used by liquor mafia to rule the roost but the government should now act stringently and put an end to this unprincipled practice henceforth.