Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and former IPS officer Debashis Dhar on Tuesday, June 9, alleged that the purported irregularities in West Bengal’s liquor policy were part of a much larger pattern of revenue leakage across several sectors of the state’s economy.
Calling for a comprehensive probe into all major sources of government revenue, Dhar said the allegations surrounding the state’s 2017 liquor policy raised serious questions about the management of public finances under the previous All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) government.
“The previous government has left West Bengal with a debt burden of around ₹8.15 lakh crore. This did not happen overnight. Despite having multiple revenue-generating sectors, the state’s finances continued to deteriorate, while investment and industrial growth remained in a state of limbo,” Dhar stated.
“Excise is one of the government’s most important sources of revenue, along with mines and minerals, sand extraction, coal and road tolls. Trinamool Congress used to siphon off money from every revenue-generating sector to be channelled to Abhishek Banerjee and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee,” Dhar noted and added that people within the administration and police also received a cut.
According to him, Trinamool Congress (TMC) had built a model wherein they could benefit from the revenue collected by various departments of the state government.
“From setting up unauthorised toll gates on state highways, bridges and thoroughfares, the TMC had mastered the art of looting the public and siphoning off money. Nobody in the administration dared protest as they would be transferred or handed out punishment postings,” Dhar alleged.
According to him the TMC’s main focus was to “steal” from state revenue collected by the excise department, mines and minerals, among others.
Dhar further claimed that the alleged illegal collections on liquor sales in the name of godown rental charges imposed on each crate of liquor, as well as transport costs levied on bottlers and foreign liquor manufacturers, were staggering given the scale of the liquor operations in the state.
“The bhaipo-pishi model has looted wealth amounting to thousands of crores.
The state excise department is one of the main sources of income of the state government. However, this probe should not be restricted to the excise sector alone. Every major source of government revenue must be examined. Revenue was systematically diverted from sectors such as excise, mines and minerals, sand extraction, coal and road toll collections, so as to directly benef Abhishek and Mamata Banerjee,” Dhar added.
Dhar had served as Superintendent of Police (SP) of Cooch Behar during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, when four persons died in firing by Central forces at Sitalkuchi. After the Mamata Banerjee-led government returned to power for a third consecutive term, he was suspended and, subsequently, placed on compulsory waiting before entering politics.
He also served in the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate and the Darjeeling Police district, among other postings.