| ‘Bureaucrats misleading Govt, paving way for outsiders’ | | We were better off in a system under Article 370: JWTA | |  Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 26: Disappointed over the government ignoring their genuine demand to scrap new excise policy, the Jammu Wine Traders Association (JWTA) on Friday said that they were better off in a system under Article 370.
Addressing media persons outside the Excise Commissioner’s Office here, the angry members of the JWTA said that “despite assurance from the government, bureaucracy is leaving no stone unturned to ruin local wine trade.”
“It is crystal clear that bureaucracy is hand in glove with mafia and contactors, that’s why efforts are being made to snatch away livelihood of thousands of people, who are affiliated with the wine trade in Jammu”, said one of the JWTA members, adding that there are only five wine shops in Kashmir, remaining around 490 wineshops are in Jammu division.
He said that the government for decades was getting desired revenue from this Jammu based trade, and now some officers have found a sin and lack of transparency in this business. “If it is true that there was lack of transparency, what action has been taken against officers, who have committed a sin by renewing licenes of wine shops, why are they sitting in Secretariat for the last five years?. Why they were not booked for violating rules, if it happened in past”, they said, adding. “There was nothing wrong in it. This is a ploy to pave the way for outsiders.”
They said that till date the licences of wine shops were renewed on time, as per rules. “But this time around agents of bureaucrats were roaming around the wine shops for a long-time, we were not in position to pay them bribes and so they contacted the mafia from outside the J&K. We have evidence that the bureaucracy has hatched a conspiracy to snatch our livelihood, and we will share the evidence at the right time and at right place”, they said.
“In a meeting of stakeholders that was held recently representatives of the big mafia and contractors also participated despite them not being members of JWTA. It clearly shows that they are being accommodated and we are being expelled out of this business”, a JWTA member said, and appealed to his fraternity that if someone survives after implementation of this new policy, they should not pay a single penny as a bribe to anybody.
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