CHANDIGARH
Punjab Governor and Chandigarh UT Administrator Banwari Lal Purohit often targets the Punjab government over drug issues and has constituted village-level committees in Punjab to combat the issue. However, he seems to have forgotten to watch out for his own administrative area i.e. Chandigarh. The Punjab Excise department recently seized a huge lot of “spurious and illegal liquor” which has been smuggled from Chandigarh over quite a long time.
The Punjab government recently wrote a letter to the Chandigarh administration and raised a case of smuggling liquor from Chandigarh to Punjab on a large scale. Making very serious allegations in the letter, the Excise Department of Punjab wrote that smuggling is not possible without the connivance of liquor traders or the authorities concerned. Not only is Punjab suffering financial losses due to this illegal business, but the treasury of the Chandigarh administration is also suffering.
Cases of smuggling of liquor from Chandigarh to Punjab have been on the rise with each passing day, and now it has been decided that smuggling cases will be reviewed every month. In this regard, a Coordination Committee has been formed at the level of Punjab and Chandigarh Excise Department. This committee will keep a close watch on the smuggling cases and will investigate each case intensively. The Punjab Excise Department in a letter sent to Chandigarh has made a detailed mention of the bottling plant of liquor, whose brand bottles have been caught in various areas of Punjab and FIR details has also been recorded. The letter mentions more than half a dozen such bottling plants. Also, the details of police complaints have been given in the last five months. The letter reported that around 184 cases have been registered in five months, of which 86 cases are related to liquor with the brand of the same bottling plant. In the letter, there are details of about 3,000 boxes of liquor, the names of the liquor companies, whose brand liquor has been seized.
The Punjab Excise Department in its letter has termed the trend of liquor smuggling from Chandigarh to Punjab as dangerous, that could prove fatal. The letter said that the way liquor is being caught in the last few months, the trends are quite worrisome.
The Punjab Excise Department has also sent a letter to the Chandigarh Excise Secretary after sending a letter to the Chandigarh Excise Commissioner regarding smuggling cases. According to departmental officials, the Punjab Excise Department has contacted the Excise Secretary of Chandigarh as Chandigarh did not take any concrete action after information from Punjab. According to the high officials of the Chandigarh Excise Department, a meeting of Excise Officers of Punjab and Chandigarh was called at the secretary level, in which it was agreed to form the Coordination Committee.
This committee will immediately inform the Chandigarh administration about every matter related to smuggling in Punjab. On the other hand, it is also being said that the Chandigarh administration is considering the expansion of this committee soon. Efforts are being made to include the officials of Haryana Excise Department in the committee so that this entire network of smuggling spread in neighbouring states can be curbed.