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Excise Dept. and Customs to jointly stop illicit entry of Ethanol
View(s):The Excise Department along with Customs will work together to stop the illicit import of Ethanol into the country, a senior official said yesterday.
A joint meeting between these two state agencies is scheduled for next week to work out modalities Excise Commissioner L.K.G. Gunawardene told the Sunday Times.
Initial investigations have revealed that the bulk of the illicit ethanol was being brought into the country by certain importers of other liquid products such as palm oil, and industrial chemical products, he said.
According to Mr. Gunawardene these errant importers cleverly conceal the ethanol among the other products sometimes making detection difficult.
He said that the bulk of ethanol is believed to be imported from countries such as India, South Africa and Singapore and much of the spirit reaches illegal distilleries in many parts of the country.
Mr. Gunawardene said the Excise Department was looking to strengthen its cadre by at least another 150 personnel. Meanwhile the Excise authorities have called for survey reports from licensees involved in the sale of alcohol products before their operational licences are renewed.
“The licensees will have to obtain a clean survey report from the relevant District Secretariat to ensure that their place of operation is in keeping with the required distance from places of religious worship and schools”, Mr. Gunawardene said.
The directive follows the recent order issued by President Maithripala Sirisena to close down some 350-plus liquor outlets that have violated this regulation.
Alcohol outlets trading in bottled products have to operate from a distance of 100 metres from such places while others are required to maintain a distance of 500 metres.
However senior Excise officials say that in many cases it was not possible to implement the presidential directive since a large number of outlets have been operating for many decades in a particular location and this includes tourist hotels as well.
- L.B.