To keep the upcoming Lok Sabha Election-2024 free, fair and transparent, District Administration, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar has been keeping a vigil on Methanol/Industrial Spirit and Distilleries/Bottling Plants/ENA/Liquor Vends by checking the proper record of sale, supply and stock of all these on daily basis.
Divulging details, the Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain along with SSP Dr Sandeep Garg, after holding a review meeting said that as the district has a movement of all these goods from Distilleries/Bottling plants, it is a must to keep strict check on all these.
She asked the Assistant Commissioner, of State Tax, Munish Nayyar to ensure to maintain the proper record of the purchase and sale of Methanol/Industrial Spirits, besides monitoring regularly by GST Officers and Sub Divisional Teams headed by respective SDMs.
The Assistant Commissioner, Excise, Ashok Chalhotra was asked to make sure that the owners/representatives of Distilleries/Bottling Plants do not indulge into any unauthorised flow of liquor. He was directed to take strict action for any serious violation against the owners if came to the fore. She insisted upon the need for Excise and Police officials/personnel to remain extra vigilant and all-out efforts to be made to put complete control over illicit distillation in their respective areas.
The Deputy Commissioner asked the excise and police departments for joint checking of all the dilapidated buildings, godowns, rice shellers, cold stores, dhabas and other empty buildings to rule out any possibility of illegal storage of liquor. Excise/State GST and Police officials would also check all spirit license holders (L-17s) in the District to rule out any possibility of pilferage of spirit into the hands of unscrupulous elements.
They were also asked to strengthen the intelligence network for monitoring the tankers carrying ENA & Industrial Spirit/ Methanol from their GPRS coordinates while these are in transit.
On asking about the progress on the installation of IP enabled CCTVs on the vends of retail licensees of all the 14 groups of S.A.S. Nagar, the Assistant Commissioner, Excise, Ashok Chalhotra apprised that out of 350 vends sub-vends, about 70 per cent have abided with the instructions while rest of the work is in progress.
Urging her police counterpart, SSP Dr Sandeep Garg, the Deputy Commissioner emphasized the strengthening of the Inter-State Naka points in the district having boundaries with neighbouring States to rule out any possibility of illegal liquor. The district police were also asked to scan the QR codes pasted on the vehicles carrying liquor cases/ENA from the manufacturing plants to verify the genuineness of the transportation permits. Similarly, in the case of retail licensees, authorization to designate persons and vehicles on recommendations of Excise Officers would be issued from the DC Office, S.A.S. Nagar for legal collection of daily sale proceeds of their groups.
The Excise Officials were also asked to maintain proper checks of registers at liquor vends to prohibit the sale of liquor cases/boxes. They were also directed to make sure that no more than two bottles are to be sold to any individual except where the L-50A license for Party/Function has been issued by the Competent Authority of the Excise Department.
The SSP while taking part in deliberations said that a joint checking team comprised of Police Personnel and the Excise Department will randomly check the roadside Dhabas to check the pilferage of ENA in the district.
The Deputy Commissioner said that the progress of the action taken in the previous week is to be monitored every week. The administrative officers who attended the meeting included ADC (G) Viraj S Tidke, ADC (Urban Development) Damanjit Singh Mann, Assistant Commissioner (G) Davy Goyal, DSP (H) Rajesh Hastir and Election Tehsildar Sanjay Kumar.
