THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The excise department that spearheads operations against the drug rackets is being bogged down by a fund crunch prompting the former to shoot off a letter to the state government seeking immediate intervention to resolve the crisis.
Sources said there have been instances of petrol pumps not refuelling excise vehicles due to mounting arrears and the officers responsible for probing cases having inter-state connections have curtailed their journeys outside the state due to fund paucity.
“The working of the excise crime branch that’s responsible for probing big cases having inter-state connections is also being affected. If a team is required to be sent to a nearby state, say Karnataka, it requires a minimum of Rs 60,000 to 75,000. The crime branch is now conducting such journeys selectively. In big cases only they do the travel and otherwise, they keep it pending,” said a source.
Even in most of the cases where they are allowed to travel, it’s the team members who pool in money to meet the expenses. They later submit the bills for reimbursement. But the sad part is there have been bills submitted in 2021 that are still uncleared.
“The excise sleuths have been spending out of their own pockets to travel to various parts of the country. They are forced to do that so that the probe does not get crippled,” said a senior officer. An officer in the excise commissioner’s office said the fuel arrears often gets delayed by a year or so in some cases.
The financial hurdle, the officer said, has not prevented the department from conducting domestic operations. The excise in the first five months this year has registered about 46000 cases of which 2700-odd cases pertained to drug peddling.