Fraud In Giving Concession To Wine Shop ‘Tonic’ In Telangana

Hyderabad, May 4 (Maxim News): The Telangana Excise Department has come to the conclusion that there is fraud in the concession given by the previous KCR’s government for the establishment of elite wine shop ‘Tonic‘ in the state.

Click Here To Join Us On WhatsApp

In 2016, it was primarily estimated that the government’s income was greatly affected by the special provision brought by the then government called ‘Elite Rules-2016‘. A preliminary report has made a loss of around Rs. 133 crores in seven years. It cites reasons such as tax evasion, unauthorised sales, giving exemptions to ‘tonic‘ through a special G.O unlike any other liquor shop in the state.

After a comprehensive study on this, it is possible to report to the government and issue a notice to the tonic managers.

Click Here To Join Us On WhatsApp

It may be recalled that the previous BRS government of KCR had given a special permit (No. 271) for the establishment of ‘Tonic Elite wine shop, unlike the liquor policy in Telangana. It is reported that the top officials at that time took action by keeping it a secret till the end and threatening the traders who tried to participate in the tenders. Only tonic got the opportunity to set up an elite wine shop with many benefits. With this permission was given for setting up without the process of tenders. None of the 2,620 stores in the state have this facility. Thus the managers were benefited with special exemptions for seven years.

After the formation of the Congress government, an inquiry was ordered into the ‘Tonic’ case. In this order, the Excise teams conducted inspections in “Tonic” and 9 affiliated shops and seized a large amount of electronic data and liquor sales records. It was found that about Rs. 1,500 crores of liquor was sold through these shops in seven years and the amount of loss due to exemptions was calculated.

Click Here To Join Us On WhatsApp

On unauthorised sales Tonic Liquor Shop has been given the facility to import liquor from other states and abroad, apart from distilleries in the state. Like no other store, they have given the opportunity to buy from anywhere in 19 depots. Excise officials initially suspected that unauthorized liquor sales might have taken place due to this.

The Excise Department has already come to a conclusion in this matter as a large quantity of illegal liquor was found during the recent inspections. On the other hand, it seems that the turnover details related to the sale of other non-alcoholic soft drinks, snacks and other material are yet to be collected apart from the daily sale of alcohol.

Click Here To Join Us On WhatsApp

In this connection, it is reported that Excise Commissioner Sridhar is conducting an investigation by assigning each responsibility to each superior officer to prepare a comprehensive report. (Maxim News)

---

More Stories :

Now you can get the latest stories from Indtoday on Telegram every day. Click the link to subscribe.  Click to follow Indtoday’s Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram. For all the latest Hyderabad News updates