The government is dragging its feet on announcing the excise policy. The delay has become a headache for it.
The proposal for the excise policy was to be brought to the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, but as the government could not take a decision on the draft proposal, the cabinet has been adjourned.
Former chief minister Uma Bharti has stuck to her guns over keeping liquor outlets away from schools and religious places in the new excise policy.
A presentation on the new excise policy was made before Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday.
But for a few points, the government has agreed to include most of the issues raised by Bharti in the policy. The government is, however, in a dilemma over the point of keeping the liquor outlets away from religious places and schools. Apart from this, the government is not ready to close the Ahatas.
Against this backdrop, the government is worried about Bharti’s opposition once the excise policy is announced. This was the reason that the government has been dithering over bringing the policy to the cabinet for the past 15 days.
