the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa’s liberal image vis-a-vis ease of buying alcohol over the counter could soon face drastic change with the launch of a new digital app introduced by the Excise Department making it mandatory for all licensed liquor retailers to log daily data of procurement and sales.
Sources in the excise department said the move to launch the App is prompted by the fairly large scale of unaccounted trading in alcohol across the State and the need to clamp down on spurious brands of IMFL floating in the market.
The number of licensed traders in the retail segment is enormous in the State and policing the trade with a fine-tooth comb is next to impossible given the current staffing pattern of the department, a top excise official told The Goan, adding that use of technology as in the case of the App launched on Friday is inevitable.
Meanwhile, the development saw Opposition political quarters jump in to capitalize on the unrest the digital app for stock reportage launched by the Excise Department has evoked among thousands of bar owners and other retail liquor traders in the State.
The Opposition politicians claim that the mobile phone App would cause immense difficulties for the small liquor entrepreneurs but the Goa Liquor Traders Association has surprisingly backed the government’s move.
The traders association said the bar owners and retail liquor traders however should be given time to acclimatize to the new reporting system.
The Goa Liquor Traders Association, however said, that the new mechanism will help improve data collection. It however appealed to the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, to give the industry more time to get used to the new
mechanism. Sawant holds the Finance Portfolio under which the Excise Department operates.
“We have spoken to the Chief Minister and has asked him for time to be given to wine shops and bars to implement the new system of uploading daily sales and purchase on the new App,” the Association’s president Dattaprasad Naik, who incidentally is a top functionary of the ruling BJP, said.
The chief minister has assured the Association that excise officials will not harass the small traders because of the new App, Naik added.Goa Forward sets 30-day deadline
MARGAO: Condemning the Excise department directive to the bar and tavern owners to upload the daily sale of liqour in the establishments via an App, the Goa Forward Party has set a 30-day deadline on the government to roll back the decision or face an agitation. While calling for the immediate withdrawal of the directive, the regional party has called for an Amendment to Excise Act in the next session of the Goa Legislative Assembly exempting daily uploading of business transactions by the bar, tavern owners.
Put decision on hold, Cong tells govt
MARGAO: Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Digambar Kamat has urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to immediately put on hold the implementation of new directions issued by Excise Department to the local bar and tavern owners to upload their daily purchases and sales on App. Saying that the economy is down and the tourism industry is also facing challenges, Kamat said it will seriously affect them and make the common man suffer if government starts burdening the small time bar and tavern owners with rigid conditions. >> See pg 3
