New Delhi: The excise department of Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal government has cancelled a tender floated for the supply of country liquor in the capital on suspicion of factionalism. In fact, a CBI inquiry into the excise policy was recently ordered by Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinay Kumar Saxena. The department has cancelled the tender for the supply of country liquor in 2022-23 after it was found that the bidders, suspiciously, were pooling their resources to keep the highest bid low, an official said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in this regard, the officials said that around three-four companies which were granted licenses for the retail sale of foreign liquor manufactured in India may close down shops in the coming days on a number of issues, which may bring down the number of liquor shops in the city to around 400. The official said the tender mentioned above for the supply of country liquor to the city was also cancelled in April as the bidders had not shown any interest.

Let me tell you that LG VK Saxena had last week recommended a CBI probe into alleged violation of rules and procedural lapses in the implementation of the Excise Policy 2021-22. He has also directed the Chief Secretary to submit a report on the allegations of factionalism in the tender for a licence for the sale of liquor on his own. Officials said three more companies, which have been given zonal licences for the retail sale of liquor, may surrender their licences in the next few days.

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