BHUBANESWAR: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has pointed out serious lapses in the supply chain management of liquor products and detection of quality of products by the consumers.Expressing concern that the end consumer of liquor has no scope to verify the quality of the products before consumption, the CAG report tabled in the winter session of the Assembly on December 2 said the inordinate delay in implementation of the excise adhesive labels (EAL) accounting module in the supply chain management software has put the consumer at health risk.
The EAL accounting module was scheduled to be completed by 2014 but it has not been implemented even after eight years. Excise adhesive labels are to be affixed on all liquor products to enable ‘track and trace’ functionality through the legal supply chain.
“As no software application or mobile app had been developed to empower the end consumer of liquor products in Odisha to scan the EALs affixed on liquor products at retail point and derive assurance that the product is safe for human consumption and government taxes had indeed been paid,” the report said.
The CAG has also drawn attention to the risks arising from lack of verification of the number of EALs, which were supposed to be in the possession of various liquor manufacturers, including those located outside Odisha.
Manufacturers located outside Odisha had not supplied liquor products commensurate with the number of EALs which they had been issued and not even renewed their licenses during subsequent financial years.
“There was a material risk that such EALs may have been diverted for use by manufacturers located within the state who could then affix them on their liquor products which were the result of excess production not reported to the Excise Commission.
Highlighting the crippling shortage of excise officers, the report said acute staff shortage has hampered regular inspection of distilleries and breweries to monitor production.Since the excise commission had not mandated the adoption of point of sale terminals and inventory management software by licensees, there is no real time visibility over stock maintained by retailers during emergencies or elections.
“This lack of internal control resulted in tampering of manually maintained sales registers to avoid payment of special Covid fee on the closing stock at the time of Covid-19 shutdowns, which had been introduced to augment government revenue during 2020-21,”the report said.