Chandigarh, Sep 23 (PTI) Punjab's excise department on Wednesday said it has initiated an exercise to get import permits of all distilleries and bottling plants verified from issuing authorities of different countries.

Punjab Excise Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said the excise department recently got import permit of a Hoshiarpur-based bottling plant verified from the office of Deputy Collector, Regional Revenue and Customs Office, Bhutan, and it was found to be fake.

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An FIR was registered against the unit and the owner was named in the report.

The excise department has now decided to get all import permits issued by authorities of various countries (and submitted by different distilleries) verified for authenticity, Aggarwal was quoted as saying in a statement.

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All such permits from January 1, 2020 are under the verification process of the department. Any distillery or bottling plant found to be using fake permits would be dealt with sternly and strict action will be taken against it, he said.

The enforcement wing of the department along with the police is pro-actively engaged in conducting raids to check illegal sale of Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) and liquor.

Nearly 10 distillery units exporting ENA and liquor are already under the scanner of the department, Aggarwal added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)