Babus ‘whisking’ away profits or buyer deficit before vendors...what ails Excise Department?

Jaipur: It seems that all is not well in the second largest revenue-earning department of the State government - Excise Department. The time period from April to August is considered to be the best period for revenue earning. However, this year, in these five months, the department has fallen behind in its target as a revenue of Rs 3,930 crore have been earned as opposed to the target of Rs 4,243 crore i.e. a shortfall of Rs 313 crore. Knowledgeable sources now claim that if this continues, then the department will fall extremely short of its target of Rs 13,500 crore for the financial year.

A huge mountain of challenges stares the new Commissioner of the department - Om Prakash Kasera, who happens to be the ninth Excise Commissioner in the current government. It has only been fifteen days since he took the chair.

Sources reveal that the reason for shortfall in revenue is the sudden increase in the sale of illegal liquor in neighbouring states and the involvement of departmental officials in such activities. It is being alleged that instead of filling up the state’s coffers, officials are more interested in ‘warming their pockets.’

Sources further reveal that Jaipur city has witnessed the biggest shortfall in revenue amounting to Rs 35.28 crore. This is followed by Alwar with Rs 29.55 crore shortfall, Jodhpur with Rs 19.40 crore, Nagaur with Rs 16.58 crore, Bikaner with Rs 15.96 crore, Jhunjhunu with Rs 15.57 crore and Bharatpur with a shortfall of Rs 15.30 crore.

Word in the bureaucratic circles is that the Excise Officers of these districts did not play out their role properly and several of these officials are under ‘sanctuary’ of ‘higher power’.

A senior officer from the Excise Department while sharing about the efforts undertaken said, “We are still working on ways to meet the revenue targets that were set, but it is a big challenge to collect even the guarantee amount from the 7,665 liquor vendors. Due to the shortage of Beer this season and a dip in temperature, many liquor vendors failed to fulfil commitments.”