The pandemic of the Covid-19 has failed to make much of a dent in income of the state government from sale of liquor this year. In fact the excise department of Uttarakhand has achieved 114 per cent of the revenue target for financial year 2021-22. The department had a revenue target of Rs 2051 Crore for FY 2021-22 against which it has collected Rs 2267 Crore. It is pertinent to mention here that the revenue target of the department was reduced this year by the government.

The above mentioned information was provided by the officials during a review meeting of the excise department chaired by the cabinet minister Yashpal Arya on Tuesday. In the meeting, the minister directed the officers to increase enforcement activities against the illicit liquor trade. He also held elaborate discussion on the reorganisation of the department structure so that enforcement activities are increased.

The minister took stern note of the fact that the department was not able to recover Rs 93 Crores in the last four years. He said that the responsibility for it should be fixed and it should be examined what action apart from issuing notices were taken by the officials concerned for recovery.