Pre-Budget meeting on excise witnesses clashes between two associations

The pre-Budget meeting on Excise chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday witnessed an altercation between liquor vendors’ associations.

After the meeting concluded, a verbal altercation between two vendors’ associations intensified in the corridor of the Vidhana Soudha, reaching a point where the office-bearers of both organisations resorted to fisticuffs. However, the issue was resolved following intervention by other office-bearers and officials.

Sources said 12 liquor vendors’ associations from the State were invited to the pre-Budget meeting. However, members of the Karnataka State Liquor Merchants’ Development Cooperative Society from Mysuru were not given a chance to submit their proposals, due to lack of time.

This enraged the members, who raised objections and there was a verbal altercation between the office-bearers of the society and members of the Federation of Wine Merchants Association Karnataka, who were present at the spot.

Sources said there were differences between the two organisations in the past as well. The federation, led by S. Guruswamy, had called for a bandh to condemn corruption in the Excise Department. At that time, the society, led by Chandrashekhar, had not supported the bandh.

Meanwhile, with the government mulling over auctioning defunct CL-2 (retail liquor shops) and CL-9 (bars and restaurants) licences to mobilise resources, the participants of the pre-Budget meeting urged the Chief Minister not to go ahead with the auctioning.

They also demanded that the profit margin on the income from the business should be doubled from the existing 10% to 20%. The office-bearers of the associations said they demanded that the duty levied on beverages and manufacturers should also be reduced.