NEW DELHI: With several cases of overcharging and brand pushing reported from liquor shops across the city, the excise department is taking against the erring officials.Following complaints from the public, the excise department sent officials to liquor stores as decoy customers during the recently concluded festival season. “The officials discovered the complaints of overcharging and brand pushing to be correct. We have asked the various selling agencies to take action against their staff. In some cases the store managers have been removed and contractual staff has been changed,” disclosed a government official on Saturday.Sources confirmed that liquor shops charged between Rs 10 and Rs 250 over the maximum retail price. Because of the huge crowd of buyers during the festival season and the shortage of certain brands, the customers, knowingly or unknowingly, paid the premium. At many stores, buyers were often denied the brand they wanted and sold a particular brand of liquor.As per the excise department, Delhi currently has 585 liquor shops run by four government corporations: Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC), Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation (DSCSC) and Delhi Consumer’s Cooperative Wholesale Stores Limited (DCCWS).Senior officials of these corporations denied any knowledge of such malpractice at their stores. “We haven’t received any complaint, written or otherwise, from any customer of being overcharged,” said a DCCWS official.A DTTDC official said it sent enforcement teams as decoy customers and conducted surprise inspections. “We didn’t find customers being fleeced. We regularly conduct unannounced inspections at lottery-selected shops,” the official claimed.Another excise department official accepted that reforms were required in Delhi in the retail of liquor, but they were waiting for the ongoing excise policy cases to be decided in the courts. “We will then focus on bringing quality changes in the retail business, such as increasing the size of liquor shops to offer customers a better experience,” the official said.He said that after the switch to the old excise regime, the focus was on opening as many shops as possible and registering more brands of liquor to meet customer demands. “Now that the system has stabilised, improving the experience of customers is important,” the official added.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/survey-finds-issues-at-delhi-liquor-stores/articleshow/98573977.cms