Chhattisgarh: 22 excise officers suspended in liquor scam, CM Sai said

News Topical, Digital Desk : In Chhattisgarh, the government under the leadership of Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai is moving forward with a zero tolerance policy on corruption. Along with this, strict steps are being taken continuously against corruption. In the much-discussed liquor scam of Rs 3200 crore during the previous regime, the Sai government has taken the biggest action so far and suspended 22 out of 29 excise officers. This action of suspension is considered to be the biggest action taken by any state so far. These officers are also accused of making movable and immovable properties from illegal earnings of about Rs 88 crore by doing corruption between the years 2019 and 2023.

Detailed investigation conducted by the Economic Offences Investigation Bureau (EOW) and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) revealed that the entire scam was being operated through an organised syndicate in which the accused excise officials played an active role.

As soon as this was revealed, the Chhattisgarh government suspended 22 officers without any delay. These include Excise Deputy Commissioner Ani Mesh Netam, Arvind Kumar Patle, Neetu Notani, Nohar Singh Thakur, Vijay Sen Sharma. Similarly, Assistant Commissioner Excise Pramod Kumar Netam, Vikas Kumar Goswami, Naveen Pratap Singh Tomar, Rajesh Jaiswal, Manjukaser, Dinkar Vasnik, Ashish Kosam, Saurabh Bakshi, Prakash Pal, Ramkrishna Mishra, Alakh Ram Kaser, Sonal Netam and District Excise Officer Mohit Kumar Jaiswal, Garibpal Singh Dardi, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, Janardan Singh Kaurav, Nitin Kumar Khanduja are included.

'It is a big example of zero tolerance policy'
It is worth noting that during the five-year tenure of the previous government, many big scams have taken place, which are being investigated by central and state agencies and one by one all the culprits are being sent to jail. Not only the liquor scam, the state government is also getting cases like DMF scam, Mahadev Satta App scam and Tendu Patta scam investigated in depth, in which strict action is being taken against the culprits if any kind of involvement is revealed. In the last two years, ACB has caught more than 200 corrupt officials, which is a big example of the state government's zero tolerance policy.

'The process of NOC has been made very simple'
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Sai, the Chhattisgarh government is giving top priority to good governance and transparent administration in the state along with curbing corruption. Under this, purchases from the Gem portal have been made mandatory, the e-office system has been started, the path of investment has been made corruption-free, transparent and easy through more than 350 reforms, in the same sequence, the process of NOC has been made very simple through Single Window System 2.0.

'Convergence department has been established'
The Chhattisgarh government has implemented a transparent system by ending the FL-10 policy in the Excise Department and now holograms printed by Nashik Press have been made mandatory on Indian and foreign liquor bottles so that the sale of fake liquor can be stopped. Similarly, the process of mineral transit pass has now been completely made online, e-auction system of wood has been implemented and the Good Governance and Convergence Department has been established for better implementation of schemes.

'Action has also been taken against officials'
The Chhattisgarh government has handed over the investigation of the irregularities in the PSC-2021 examination to the CBI, in which the then chairman of the commission has been arrested. At the same time, the investigation of Bharatmala Yojana and CGMSC scams has also been handed over to the EOW, in which the guilty officials have been suspended. In this transparent action against corruption, action has also been taken against officials of various levels from IAS, IFS to State Service.

Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai has clearly said that this scam happened during the tenure of the previous government, no culprit involved in the scam will be spared. Now there is no place for corruption in the state, the aim of our government is to give transparent, accountable and honest administration to the public.