KOCHI: Officials of the Excise Department on Tuesday started examination of bars in the district, following the High Court order in this regard. Four teams of officials have been assigned to conduct inspection of the 103 bars in the district, and to complete the process before August 24.
Ernakulam Excise deputy commissioner P Jayarajan said that on the first day, inspections were conducted in 10 bars in various parts of the district.
“On the first day, we convened a meeting at the Ernakulam Collectorate until 2 pm, in which the officials were briefed on the details of the inspection and the procedures to be completed after visiting the bars. The squads started the inspection only around 2.30 pm. Three of the squads are headed by circle-inspector, while and one squad is headed by Assistant Commissioner. There are nine officials in every squad. Since the Ernakulam district has 103 bars, we have to work hard to complete the inspection in five days. From the next day, the inspection will start in the morning itself,” he said.
Excise Joint Commissioner K Mohanan said that since the Ernakulam district was having a higher number of bars than the other districts, officials from other districts would be deployed for completing the inspection on time. “We are planning to bring officials from Idukki and Kottayam to complete the checking. A decision in this regard will be taken in a day,” he said.
According to officials of the Excise Department, after inspecting the standard of the bars, they would be graded and classified into various categories.
Later, a report will be filed before the High Court.