New excise policy in July, says Jawahar

Visakhapatnam: The prohibition and excise department will launch a new policy for bars and restaurants in the state and a committee has been formed to look into the modalities, said minister for prohibition and excise K S Jawahar, here on Friday.

Talking to the reporters after a review meeting with top officials of his department, the minister said the committee has already prepared a report which would be seen and approved by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on his return from the US. Probably the new policy will be announced in the first week of July.

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HIGHLIGHTS:

• A committee has been formed to look into the modalities
• It has already prepared a report which would be submitted to the Chief Minister for his approval
• The excise minister says a fine of Rs 1 lakh to 5 lakh will be imposed on wine shops which indulge in MRP violations
• Navodayam scheme to be implemented to make villages arrack-free

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On the MRP violations by the wine shops, the minister said the government will enhance the fine limit from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh which will serve as a deterrent to the violators. “So far we have booked about 1,300 cases in the state of which 68 cases are from Vizag city,” he said.

The minister said in order to hone the skills of his department personnel, a training institute has been sanctioned to be set up at Samalkot. The government has identified 20 acres of land and will be spending about Rs 198 crore for the training facility. The grant has already been sanctioned, he said.

According to him, training will be given to all excise officials for a period of six months and even training in handling of weapons will be imparted. The training module will be designed by JNTU-Kakinada, he said.

The excise officials at times work in hostile environment such as in the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari, where ganja cultivation and smuggling is rampant.

“We are revisiting the weapon policy for the excise officials and have already recommended for sanction of weapons,” he said.

Accepting that ganja cultivation and trade has been on the rise, the minister said 32 additional check-posts would be set up and vehicles were being procured to increase the strength of the mobile squads.
He said excise officials have been told to bind over the cultivators and arrest the smugglers and the traders under the NDPS Act.

“We are also mulling to add some additional sections to the existing Act to make it more effective,” he said.

Refuting claims that his department has been the highest revenue grosser in the state, Jawahar said the state has a budget of about 13.58 lakh crores and his department share is only Rs 1,358 crore. And after all expenditures and salaries to over 6,000 employees, the department is left with only Rs 100 crore.

The minister also said that more focus will be given to the Navodayam scheme to make villages ‘arrack’ free and a holistic package is being worked out under the insurance for the toddy-tappers.