Jammu special report
Jammu, Mar 12(KINS): Bedridden, Dinesh Singh, who despite being an engineer, couldn’t get a job got a liquor license but only after giving a written bond that he won’t apply for any government employment.
Unfortunately Singh met with an accident on way to Dalhousie and suffered serious injuries. Since that day he is bed ridden. The only source of income for him and his family is a liquor shop through which they manage their expenses.
“Do I look like a part of any mafia? I can’t even move from the bed. My wife feeds me and takes care of other needs,” Singh told a reporter who visited his home.
He said, “If the J&K government insists on e-bidding for liquor, we will not be able to participate in it due to the huge money involved in it. If my liquor license is snatched, it will be a matter of life and death for me. My liquor shop is the only source of income and it will be snatched.”
Singh’s wife who was attending him said, “Since the day my husband has met with an accident I been with him as he cannot do anything without assistance. If our shop gets closed I will have to look for a job. I am 45-years old and it’s difficult to find a job in this age. I can’t understand what wrong we have done. Why the government is doing this to us.”
She said, “We are managing our daily expenses with great difficulty besides household expenses we have to pay the school fee of our children and the expense incurred on the treatment of my husband. We are no big shots. Neither are we a part of any mafia. Misconception is being created about us.”
“We don’t know what will happen to us. What have we done?” she asked.
Singh said, “I urge Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to get the facts verified about the plight of people in Jammu who are associated with the liquor trade. He will come to know that we are neither big time businessmen nor are we multimillionaires. We are small time traders whose survival is directly linked to this trade. There are many people like us who are dependent on this trade. Don’t turn a blind eye towards our plight address our genuine concerns.”
It’s in place to mention here that the new draft of liquor policy formulated by the J&K government states that anyone who wants to participate in the E-auction for liquor-vend, would have to provide an evaluation certificate of land to the tune of Rs. 50 Lakhs from Tehsildar. “The base price for each liquor shop is Rs. 5 Lakh and it will go up to any extent, while the vendor will have to submit advance tax. Moreover Minimum Guarantee Revenue (MGR to be submitted to government) and Minimum Guarantee Quota (MGQ to be taken every month by vendor) will be fixed for each vendor and if the vendor fails to maintain these quotas, the allotment will be cancelled,” president of Jammu Wine Traders Association had told reporters earlier this week.
The JWTA has rejected the draft of the new draft of the liquor policy and has urged the government to let the old system run as more than 30000 people in Jammu are dependent on this trade.
