"Curb illegal liquor, recover tax arrears": CM Siddaramaiah directs Excise department

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 14 : Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday directed the officials of the Excise Department to curb illegal liquor in the state and recover tax arrears to achieve the set target in tax collection.
CM Siddaramaiah gave this instruction while reviewing the progress of the Excise Department in the conference hall, Vidhana Soudha.
“The revenue collection target of the department for the current year is 36,000 crores and the growth rate of tax collection is 5.31 per cent. All the officers should work hard to achieve the set goals,” Siddaramaiah said.
“The enforcement agencies should keep a close watch on the illegal liquor movement in the border areas of the state, especially from the Goa. The production and sale of illegal liquor adversely affects the income and health of the poor. The production and sale of illegal liquor should be stopped,” he added.
The CM also pressed on to take the necessary steps to collect the tax arrears. He also said that he will hold a separate meeting to discuss the reform measures in the Excise Department.
He directed to get the services of Home Guards at the checkposts of the border areas and to submit proposals to strengthen home guards services for other facilities.
Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Dr Rajneesh Goel, Finance Department Additional Chief Secretary L.K. Ateeq, Finance Department Secretaries Dr PC Zafar and Dr MT Reju, Excise Commissioner Ravi Shankar, Chief Minister's political secretaries K. Govindaraju and Naseer Ahmed and other senior officers were present in the meeting.