The liquor vends in Punjab will continue to be shut till Monday, with cabinet ministers and bureaucracy locking horns over the state's liquor policy. In a major setback to state's efforts to open liquor vends at the earliest, the policy deliberations remained inconclusive as majority of the ministers walked out after an “ugly' argument between Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh. The meeting has now been deferred to Monday. The CMO is trying to mediate a truce.
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Speaking to THE WEEK, one of the ministers revealed that the situation became “ugly” when Karan Avtar Singh highlighted non-feasibility and viability of certain suggestions made by the ministers. The ministers had suggested a government department take control of the unsold vends, and prescribed some changes in the excise policy. Finance minister Manpreet Badal, reportedly, took umbrage to the chief secretary's remarks and left the meeting midway.
The tension escalated when Cooperation and Jails minister Sukhjinder Randhawa highlighted alleged shortcomings of the excise department. While other senior bureaucrats tried to pacify the ministers, the latter staged a walkout and scheduled lunch was cancelled. Following the fiasco, the ministers, reportedly, spoke to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh through video conferencing, expressing anguish over bureaucracy calling the shots in state.
“The ministers are completely ignored in decision-making and it is the bureaucrats who are running the state. The delay in liquor policy is leading to major revenue losses and people are agonised. If we are not even allowed to suggest something for public welfare, then we don't even want to be ministers. Such humiliation cannot be tolerated,” a senior cabinet minister told THE WEEK.
