Curb liquor smuggling, CM Siddu tells Excise department

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told Excise Department officials to stop the smuggling of illicit liquor from other states and set themselves a target in tax collection, achieve it, besides recovering dues.

He gave the directions to the officials in the progress review meeting of the Excise Department in the conference hall at the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on Thursday.

The revenue collection target of the department for the current year is Rs 36,000 crores and the growth rate of tax collection is projected to be 5.31 per cent.

“The enforcement agencies should keep a close watch on the illegal liquor movement in the border areas of the state, especially from Goa. The production and sale of illegal liquor adversely affects the income and health of the poor. Production and sale of illegal liquor should be stopped,” Siddaramaiah said.

“Vigilance forces should be alert at all places. All Deputy Commissioners (DCs) should give priority to increase revenue collection. Also take necessary steps to collect tax arrears,” he added.

He said that he would hold a separate meeting to discuss reform measures in the Excise Department. He also directed officials to secure the services of Home Guards at the check posts in the border areas and to submit proposals to strengthen home guards services.

Additional Chief Secretary to CM Rajneesh Goel, Finance Department Additional Chief Secretary LK Ateeq, Finance Department Secretaries PC Zafar and MT Reju, Excise Commissioner Ravi Shankar, CM's political secretaries K Govindaraju and Naseer Ahmed and other senior officers were present in the meeting.