Govt corners AAP as CAG flags excise losses

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s performance review on Delhi’s excise policy between 2017 and 2022, the first of 14 pending reports by the audit agency to be tabled in the Delhi Assembly, flagged a string of major violations in awarding licenses, quality control, and pricing, leading to a notional loss of over ₹2,000 crore to the exchequer. Govt corners AAP as CAG flags excise losses The Bharatiya Janata Party government seized on the report’s findings to attack the Aam Aadmi Party, which governed during the audit period. Due to deliberate obstructions of new excise policy by BJP’s LG, ED and CBI, the Delhi government was not able to reach revenue targets and fell short of estimated revenue by ₹2,000 crore. What the CAG report on Delhi excise policy says Examining the earlier excise policy, the report uncovered systemic failures, including gaps in barcode tracking of liquor bottles, rule violations in license issuance, lack of transparency in pricing, and poor enforcement. “CAG has uncovered unprecedented corruption in the liquor policy which Kejriwal had tried to hide from public scrutiny by not tabling the reports in the assembly,” he said adding that AAP “deceived the people of Delhi by projecting a false façade of honesty.” Yadav demanded a strict follow up action to punish those responsible for misappropriating the tax payers’ money to line their pockets and that all other reports should also be tabled soon.