704 gram panchayats have passed resolution to close liquor vends in villages: Haryana DyCM Dushyant Chautala

Over 700-gram panchayats in Haryana have passed a resolution to close liquor vends in their villages in the next fiscal, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala has said.

Of the 22 districts in Haryana, the state excise and taxation department has received the highest number of 122 resolutions from the Bhiwani district, as per a list shared by Chautala on Twitter.

Chautala, who holds the excise and taxation portfolio, on Wednesday tweeted, "704-gram panchayats (gram sabhas) passed a resolution in Haryana for the closure of vends in their villages."

The list "Statement showing the number of Panchayat resolutions for the closure of vends in 2020-21" stated that 90 panchayats have passed resolutions in Jind district, 85 in Rewari, 69 in Narnaul, 64 in Karnal, 56 in Hisar, 50 in Panipat and 37 in Sonipat.

Thirty-four resolutions each have been received from Palwal and Jhajjar, 30 from Fatehabad, 27 from Kaithal, 25 from Gurugram, 20 from Yamunanagar, 11 each from Ambala and Sirsa, eight from Faridabad, seven from Kurukshetra and three from Panchkula, according to the list.

No resolutions were received from Mewat and Rohtak districts.

With these resolutions, the number of liquor vends in the state will fall from 2,500 to 1,800 in 2020-2021, an excise department official said.

Last year, the Haryana government had asked panchayats not wanting liquor vends in their villages to pass a resolution and submit it before the announcement of the state Excise Policy for 2020-2021.

In its assembly election manifesto, the Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) had promised that no liquor vends would be allowed in villages.

The JJP had forged a post-poll alliance with the BJP to form the government in Haryana last year after the saffron party could muster 40 seats out of the total 90. JJP had bagged 10 seats.