Mangaluru, May 5: Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner of excise said, in terms of collection of excise revenue and sale of liquor, DK district stands in the third place in the state.
George Pinto briefed on the annual report (of the year 2014-15) of the department at a press meet organized at the office of Department of Excise in Mary Hill here on Tuesday May 5th. He said, in Dakshina Kannada district there are five taluks; four sub-divisional offices, and 10 sectors are operating here. Two sub-divisional offices are located in Mangaluru and the other two are situated in Bantwal and Puttur.
Karnataka government released the ‘Karnataka Excise Manual’ book in the year 2009 for the excise department where its work, responsibilities, rules and regulations are briefly explained. In every sector, we have selected various routes and we have kept point books for the excise officials to collect the details illegal sale of liquor and keep a tab on the old convicts. At present our district has 68 routes and in these routes 420 point books are kept. In the 2014-15 year, the officials have patrolled 1,242 times and 6,772 times they have written remarks,” he added.
Along with revenue collection, the department has conducted 182 gram sabha meetings in 2014-15. We have been spreading awareness among the people regarding the side effects of consuming spurious liquor and instructing people to buy liquor from licensed outlets only. In case bootlegging is traced, the public should inform us, said Georege.
George further said, Excise department officials are deployed for road patrolling to prevent transporting or selling of inter-state liquors especially from Goa. In the year 2014-15 we checked 34,653 suspicious vehicles.
As many as 153 retail liquor stores (CL2), 215 bars (CL9), 41 lodging and boarding’s (CL7), 4 clubs, 11 government stores run by MSIL organisation with CL11 licence and various other licensed stores are run in Dakshina Kannada district. About 5,948 licences were inspected in 2014-15, he said.
Alcohol sales target
George Pinto informed that, in the district; sale of liqour has a major contribution to the revenue of the department. In 2014-15, the excise department was supposed to sell 28,50,000 boxes of liquor. Dakshina Kannada district has sold 25,80,222 boxes of liqour in the year 2014-15. In comparison to the sale of liqour in during the year 2013-14, there is 7 percent rise this time.
As many as 17,26,636 boxes of beer were sold and from this, Rs 973 crores has been collected to the government treasury, he said.
When sale of liquor in the city region was inspected, we found that 48% of liqour was sold out of 67% of liquor stores, and 52% of liquor was sold in 33% of stores in rural areas. In city, high-priced liqours are in demand while in rural areas low-priced liquors are in high demand, he said.
In the district two-thirds of the excise constable and head constable posts remain vacant but still, illegal sale/transportation/storing of liqour are caught and a total of 14 serious cases have been filed. As many as 441 cases have been registered against liquor license holders for violation of licence terms. A fine of Rs 63,08,750 has been collected so far from such cases, said George.
After arrack was banned, now there is one liquor store for 10 villages and the locals are taking advantage by selling liquor in their petty shops and meat stalls. This has come to the notice of excise department and in 2014-15, 255 cases were registered and Rs 6,82,500 fine was collected. We have also produced a few of them in the court. Overall Rs 69,91,250 is collected as fine, which is an increase of 98% as compared to 2013-14, , he said.
Currently, the district does not have any arrack centre operating. However, there are a few arrack shops situated in suspicious areas. We have kept an eye on those areas, he said.
Regarding recovery of old outstanding dues he said, there was a meeting with the deputy commissioner and the government, and a committee was formed to discuss old outstanding dues and collect them. As per the guidance from the government, the committee has so far collected Rs 25,00,000 from the 9 cases. These outstanding dues were pending from arrack contractors since long. These were the unrecoverable old arrears which were recovered by us in 2014-15.
We also have the authority to arrest ganja and drug peddlers. The media and the public must join hands with us to catch such persons. I have completed one year of my term in Mangaluru and when I was in Udupi I had seized heroin worth Rs 1.5 crore. During my three years of tenure in Udupi, many such incidents were traced. I am going to catch such culprits even here. I need some more time, informed George.
George Pinto further said, one-day licences are given to all functions. To avoid violation of Section 15A, we have made licence mandatory. CL5 license at Rs 11,500 is given. The licence is given within two days of applying. It is totally a single window system.
Liquor consumption in public places is strictly banned. Licences are provided to distribute liquor in function halls. One needs to keep the bill to collect excess amount of liquor in one’s house or carry while travelling. But one does not need a licence for functions organized in his house since it is a private place.
On this occasion, officials of Excise department Krishna Prasad and Shiva Prasad were present.
