Jaipur: The auction for a liquor vend in Hanumangarh district of north Rajasthan went a little overboard when the bidding between two families trying to outdo each other that started at Rs 72 lakh and finally ended at over Rs 500 crore.
The bidding for the liquor shop located in Khuiyan village of Hanumangarh district was held via e-auction a few days back.
The bidding began at 11 am and went on through the day to end well past midnight at 2 am with the highest bid of Rs 510 crore. The winner finally was a woman named Kiran Kanwar while Priyanka Kanwar was the second highest bidder.
Kiran and Priyanka are related and the auction became a battle of prestige between the two families that ended with the highest ever bid for a liquor store in the state
The Congress government has stated the concept of auctioning liquor stores in the state. The system of auctioning had been done away with by the former BJP government . However, the Congress has re-started the system and over 7,000 liquor shops have been e-auctioned in the state.
The liquor shop in Khuiyan village had been auctioned for Rs 65 lakh last year. This time around the excise department had fixed the base price of the shop at Rs 72 lakh. Even Excise department officials are shocked at the bid as they never expected it to go so high.
Excise department officials said the new owner will now have to pay two percent of the shop’s cost to the department. If she does not pay up, she will lose the reserve price. In case the payment is not made, the firm that won the auction will be blacklisted and the auction will be held again.
