Chandigarh, April 30 -- The UT excise and taxation department's attempt to auction 28 unsold liquor vends ended on a disappointing note with only seven vends finding buyers.

In March, the department had managed to auction 96 of the total 97 liquor vends for 2025-26, fetching Rs.606 crore in revenue - 36% above the Rs.439 crore reserve price.

But a fresh auction was necessitated after the department cancelled the licences of 48 liquor vends in April over non-submission of mandatory bank guarantees worth Rs.40 crore.

While 20 of these vends were sold in the first auction on April 21, 28 went unsold.

Now, even after the second round of auction, the department has been left with 21 vends, a sizeable chunk of the total vends in the city. ...