VISAKHAPATNAM: The government will soon roll out new excise policy, announced Excise minister KS Jawahar, who was here on Friday. He said that a committee which had been constituted to look into the matter, submitted a report which has to be perused by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for the final approval.
Jawahar told newsmen here that after Chandrababu returned from the US, he would take the final call and the new policy might be announced by month-end, he said. On the MRP violations by the wine shops, Jawahar said that the government would enhance the fine from `1 lakh to `5 lakh on such shops. He said that only stringent action would rein in the shopkeepers. So far we have booked about 1,300 such cases, including 68 in Vizag, he added.
A training institute for the excise officials will be set up at Samalkot. The government has identified about 20 acres of land and sanctioned `198 crore for setting up the facility.
“Training, including handling of weapons, will be given to all excise officials for six months. The training module will be designed by JNTU-Kakinada,” he said. Jawahar said that at times there may be a situation where the excise officials have to work in risky areas like the Visakhapatnam and East Godavari agency, where ganja smuggling is rampant. He said that the department would revisit the weapon policy for the Excise officials and already recommended sanction of weapons,” he said.
On the ganja smuggling in Vizag Agency, Jawahar said that they were adding 32 additional check-posts and vehicles being procured to increase the squads’ mobility. He said that the Excise officials were told to stop the ganja cultivation and arrest the smugglers and the traders under the NDPS Act. If possible, we would make the existing Act more effective by adding more sections.