LAHORE: Keeping the ongoing nationwide smart lockdown in view, the five-star hotel industry of Punjab’s provincial capital on Saturday demanded the Excise Taxation and Narcotics Control (ET&NC) Department open vend shops for a two day period, Pakistan Today learnt.
In this regard, the hotels have given an application to the ET&NC director general (DG) stating that vend shops have a large stock of liquor which can be sold in two days to cover some losses.
Well established sources in ET&NC informed this scribe that no officer of the department is willing to take the responsibility of opening vend shops for this purpose after witnessing the social media backlash that happened last month when the federal capital tried resuming vend shop operations, adding that the files regarding the resolution of this issue in Punjab had been moving from one officer to another before eventually being sent to the Coronavirus Committee.
It may be noted here that all provincial governments have their own policies on vend shops, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), even though there isn’t a single vend shop in the province.
“No official of the department will take responsibility for issuing written orders to open liquor shops,” the source said.
ET&NC DG Masood-ul-Haq while speaking to Pakistan Today said that the decision was not opposed at the departmental level whereas the department had even proposed SOPs to the government for opening vend shops.
Expressing concern for the financial hit caused to ET&NC in terms of duty tax, he said that vend shops had not been closed by the department, to begin with, but that they had to be shuttered once the general lockdown was announced.
“Now, a reference letter from our department has been sent to the Coronavirus Committee in the Cabinet and it is up to them to decide,” he stated.
Confirming that an application drafted by the Five Star Hotel Industry had been received in this regard, he said, “A request has also been received from Lahore’s five-star hotels’ industry in which they have requested permission to open vend shops for two days. But as I stated, the decision is completely in the committee’s hands at this point.”
When asked about an increase in the consumption of fake alcohol during the lockdown, Masood replied, “Drinking fake alcohol is like committing suicide. If someone consumes sanitizer or ethanol themselves then what can we do? However, the department has not received any post-mortem report regarding any death caused by fake liquor as yet”.
He also spoke about the reduction of duty on imported liquor, saying, “there is a complete ban on imported liquor and it falls into the category of smuggled items”.
