Chandigarh opens a gateway to prevent the smuggling of alcohol over state lines
In an effort to stop booze smuggling, the Chandigarh Excise and Taxation Department has created an internet platform for interstate collaboration. The action was taken shortly after the Election Commission released strict recommendations aimed at reducing the illicit sale of alcohol in any state during the Lok Sabha elections.
Excise Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said that the agency was coordinating in real-time with excise nodal officials in other states to take prompt action in cases of illicit liquor smuggling. To enhance interstate cooperation, the department deployed a DSP-rank officer and an assistant commissioner to Bihar to work with the state’s excise officials and the Bihar Police.
In order to prevent theft while in transit, a site has been established to disseminate information on all liquor export consignments, including destination and en route states. The system will notify the receiving state’s nodal officer(s) and the states where the export consignment would be traveling via email and SMS as soon as any export approval from the UT is approved. It will verify, among other things, the details of the consignment and the vehicle, the estimated time and position of the consignment’s entry and leave from the en route states, and the time at which it enters and arrives at the recipient state.
A feature on the portal allows a state to log in and enter or upload the necessary details of the confiscated consignment so that the Chandigarh Excise Department can be notified immediately in the event that any state seizes any illegal liquor consignment “for supply/sale in Chandigarh” or from the Chandigarh bottling plants. Prompt information exchange like this would be very helpful in ensuring efficient enforcement and tracking down the source of the seized booze consignment.
According to Singh, the agency has written to each state’s secretary of the excise department requesting that they instruct their staff to utilize the site efficiently in order to prevent interstate liquor smuggling.
