Those Below 21 Years Of Age Will Not Get Liquor In UP Now, Excise Minister Issues Instructions

Lucknow, December 5 (TNA) Taking seriously the issue of serving liquor to underage children in the Summit Building of Lucknow during the winter session of the Legislative Assembly, Minister of State for Excise (Independent Charge) Nitin Aggarwal has directed the departmental officers to stop the liquor from being served to underage children under 21 years of age.

He also directed officials to ensure that there is a strict ban on serving and giving liquor at liquor shops. In the departmental review meeting on Monday, the Excise Minister has also sought clarification from the excise officers of 11 districts lagging behind in revenue collection. These include Mahoba, Sambhal, Hamirpur, Auraiya, Mainpuri, Etawah, Jhansi, Amethi, Moradabad, Baghpat and Kanpur cities.

The Excise Minister has also instructed the departmental officers to take all possible steps to achieve the revenue target of Rs 50 thousand crore set for the current financial year. The minister talked about completely banning liquor smuggling from border districts and also taking seriously the complaints related to over-rating.

If there is no increase in revenue relative to the target in Kanpur, the Excise Minister directed the Deputy Excise Commissioner to review it and submit a report within 15 days. He also underlined to regularly review the shops bordering Haryana in Baghpat, and added that if the said shops are affecting the revenue of the state, then a request be made to the Haryana authorities to shift them.

Similarly, regular review of shops on the border of Saharanpur should also be done. He directed to set up check posts in Agra, Mathura, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Baghpat, Saharanpur and Shamli to prevent smuggling.

Apart from this, special attention should be kept on smuggling of liquor from Agra, Mathura, Lucknow Highway to Bundelkhand Highway via Mirzapur via Sonbhadra. In this regard, cooperation of GST and police department officials should also be obtained.

He said that strict action should be taken in Deoria, Kushinagar, Pilibhit, Bareilly and other areas where complaints of over pricing are received. The sale of poisonous liquor should not be allowed under any circumstances, it tarnishes the image of both the government and the department. The Principal Secretary of the department, Excise Commissioner and other officers were present in the meeting.