In order to reduce the illegal activities, smuggling and sale of various brands of liquor and bootlegging in the national Capital, the Delhi Government is planning to develop an online window — ‘ESCIMS’ (Excise Supply Chain Information Management System) through which the Delhi Police can track the activities related to import and transport permit.
The Government officials closely associated with this project said that the process of developing the online window ESCIMS has been started. The unscrupulous elements will be eliminated once the feature comes in effect,” the official said.
As per the data shared by the Excise Department, about 2.88 lakh illegal bottles of liquor have been seized across the city and 585 First Information Report (FIR) registered in the year 2018-19. In addition to it, 585 persons were arrested in the same period under appropriate provisions of Excise Act.
“The main purpose behind the new initiative is to reduce bootlegging activities and further to check the illegal smuggling of liquor into the city and bootlegging activities, regular intelligence is being gathered,” said the official, adding that large number of illegal liquor is smuggled from Haryana and then sold in the city on a cheaper rate.
The data further shows that around 467 persons were arrested in just one month between November and December 2018 for consuming liquor in open area and creating chaotic situations to the public.
“The Excise Department is committed to maximise transparency, objectivity and professionalism in its functioning. Registration of foreign liquor suppliers who are not supplying liquor to retail vends in Delhi has been introduced in order to enable the department to track the movement of the foreign liquor, management of inventory and checking pilferage/evasion of the excise duty”, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
“Further, action and steps are being taken up by the excise to remove red-tapism and corruption. Further, major steps are taken by simplifying the process of renewal of licenses. The process of renewal and grant of fresh license has been made online,” Sisodia had said in his budget speech on Tuesday.
“An application called “Msalecheck’ has been developed for the excise inspectors to check the Non-Duty Paid liquor (NDPL). This app helps the Excise Inspector to fetch detailed information. Also, ‘MliquorSalecheck’ App has also been developed through which citizens can check the authenticity of the liquor sold to them,” said a official.
Further, the total revenue generated by Excise department this year (2018-19 up to January) is Rs 4,015.64 crore with a growth of 12.2 per cent, the official added.