PANAJI
Goa has witnessed nearly 10,000 raids conducted by the Excise department to keep a check on illicitly produced, traded or stored liquor within the State over the last four years.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who holds the finance portfolio under which the Excise department is administered, said that 9,465 raids were conducted and cases under the Excise law were booked against 982 individuals.
Sawant's written reply to a query posed by AAP's Benaulim MLA, Venzy Viegas in the recently concluded budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, said that the Excise Department has either compounded or booked cases against 982 persons in approximately 9,465 raids it conducted since 2020.
Goa, being a tourist destination is a high liquor trading State and reports of raids and large seizures of illicit liquor are a common occurence.
Police and excise officials of the two neighbouring States of Karnataka and Maharashtra too conduct frequent raids and detain vehicles carrying large quantities of liquor stocks headed to destinations in their respective States.
With manufacturers and traders bound by the nitty-gritties of the Excise law violations are frequent, affecting revenues on this crucial taxation head. The department therefore has enforcement teams frequently raiding liquor manufacturing companies as well as traders and booking cases for violation of the rules.
Recently the excise officials of Maharashtra halted a transport vehicle near Pune whose driver claimed he was carrying medicines and produced pharma industry related documents. However on inspection, the team found 950 boxes containing 45,600 sealed bottles of 180 ml of Royal Blue Malt Visco whiskey, manufactured by Pigott Chapman and Company in Bardez, Goa.
Such incidents are common and the excise officials from Karnataka too have in recent months stepped up their vigilance on the routes heading out of Goa.
