NEW DELHI — A discussion on the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG)
damning report on the previous AAP government's excise policy began on Thursday
in Delhi Assembly, with BJP MLAs hitting out at favouritism in the issue of
liquor licences, opening of vends in residential areas and absence of lab test
of liquor before sale in the city.
The third sitting of the House, whose session began on
February 25, started with only Amanatullah Khan of the AAP representing the
Opposition in the House, while the other 21 legislators staged a protest
outside the premises of the Assembly due to a suspension slapped on them by
Speaker Vijender Gupta till Monday.
Before the discussion on the excise policy, Malviya Nagar
MLA Satish Upadhyay raised the issue of desecration of a statute of Shaheed
Bhagat Singh in a park in the south Delhi colony.
"The AAP Malviya Nagar MLA did not attend to the
broken arm and leg of the statute over the past three years," he said,
adding that he has now covered the statute and directed officials to repair the
statue or install a new statue within a month.
He said the AAP leader's respect for Shaheed Bhagat Singh
is unreal. "If they were committed to respecting the national hero, they
should have repaired the statue and walked the talk," he said.
The poor state of the statue in Malviya Nagar park
exposes the "double standards" of the AAP, which raised slogans in
the House but "failed" to give due respect to the statue, said
Upadhyay, adding that a similar statue in Mehrauli had also been damaged.
Later, taking part in Special Mention (Rule 280),
Upadhyay raised the issue of the absence of quality check of liquor at the time
of issuing licences to vendors, as exposed by the CAG report on the
now-scrapped excise policy of the previous AAP government.
"The CAG report said the liquor licence did not
fulfil the obligation of getting liquor samples tests. Such a policy of the AAP
encouraged the sale of illicit liquor in the city," he said.
He said the government lost an additional Rs 941 crore
due to the exemptions that had to be given to the zonal licensees.
The CAG report said the exchequer lost around Rs 890
crore as the AAP did not re-tender the surrendered retail liquor licences, he
said.
Greater Kailash MLA Shika Rai joined the debate on the
CAG report by alleging that the easy availability of liquor in Delhi under
AAP's faulty excise policy of "one-plus-one" bottles had a negative
impact on low-income groups.
"Incidents of domestic violence increased along with
debt in the city," she said, adding that at a time when many poor people
were struggling to earn income, they were lured into spending a lot of money on
liquor.
The CAG report tabled in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday
said that the policy of former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his ministers
allegedly caused a loss of over Rs 2,002 crore to the exchequer.
