Excise dept in disarray

Hyderabad: It seems like all is not well in the state Excise and Prohibition Department, which is one of the four highest revenue generating wings in Telangana.

After Principal Secretary (Excise) Syed Ali Murtuza Rizvi resigned from his post, unable to face Excise Minister Jupally Krishna Rao’s alleged harassment, highhanded approach and wrath, some senior officials are struggling to cope up with the rising job demands and are seemingly unable to discharge their duties.

“The adamant attitude of the Minister as regards release of dues to distilleries and breweries; amendments to the orders fixing liquor purchase prices by the Telangana State Beverages Corporation Limited and transfer of officials in the districts are giving tension to all senior officials in the department”, a top excise official pointed out. Reportedly, causing further anguish was the Minister’s rude and dismissive behaviour against officials who ‘did not fall in line’ and ‘didn’t do favours for him’.

The recent episode of a distillery company’s demand to revise the liquor purchase price has created a furore in the Excise department.

“The Minister’s continuous pressure for fresh tenders for supply of high security holograms created a big rift between Krishna Rao and top IAS officers. The supply and finalisation of liquor purchase prices is another big controversy surrounding the department. Beverage corporation officials were asked to supply liquor during the festive season as per the Minister's diktat. However, the corporation preferred to follow the rule book in the release of stocks to liquor shops”, another senior official maintained.

The commissioner-level and director rank officials in the Excise Department’s enforcement wing have been calling for early clearance of files pending with the Minister, who has allegedly been sitting on them for unfathomable reasons. Consequently, some policy decisions were not being implemented in time, they lamented.

Even though the government has decided to set up microbreweries across municipalities, it is believed that Rao took more time to give his assent for calling tenders.

Meanwhile, the plea of liquor dealers seeking enhancement of profit margins has been put on hold for the last one year, officials said. They cautioned that Krishna Rao’s unilateral functioning style could adversely impact revenue generation. The Excise wing is already struggling to achieve the revenue targets set by the government due to internal issues ever since Rao took over reins of the Excise wing in December 2023.