Punjab's excise revenue jumped by 41% last fiscal: Harpal Cheema

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Chandigarh, April 6

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Thursday said the state’s excise revenue increased by more than 41 per cent in the just-concluded financial year 2022-23.

On pension

Reiterating the commitment of the government towards the welfare of its employees, Cheema said the Cabinet Sub-Committee and Sub-Committee of Officers constituted to draft SOPs for the implementation of old pension scheme will introduce such a model that it will be followed by other states.

The Excise Department collected a revenue of Rs 8,841.4 crore from the sale of liquor during 2022-23 against the revenue of Rs 6,254.74 crore collected in the previous financial year.

Addressing a press conference here, Cheema attributed the record revenue growth to the new Excise Policy. He said during the previous regimes, the excise collections in the state registered minuscule growth, and at times the state even witnessed a negative growth.

Giving further details, Cheema said the department had successfully completed the allotment of retail liquor vends for the year 2023-24. “The process of allotment of 171 excise groups was started on March 11 and successfully completed on March 31,” the Finance Minister said, adding that the department had surpassed the target of licence fee of Rs 7,989 crore.

Cheema, who also holds the excise portfolio, said the department had set the total revenue collection target of Rs 9,754 crore for year 2023-24, but he was confident that the department would touch the Rs 10,000-crore figure.

Replying to a media query regarding enforcement activities, the Finance Minister said an effective drive was continuously being carried out by the department with use of technology and proper coordination with civil and police authorities.

He said from April 1, 2022, to February 8, 2023, as many as 6,317 FIRs were lodged by the Excise Department, 6,114 arrests were made, 1,48,693 litres of illicit liquor was detected and 5,06,607 litres of “lahan” was recovered and destroyed.

He said the drone technology was being used to capture real-time images of inaccessible locations where illicit was brewed, besides using hand-held monitors for checking the strength of seized liquor.