Chandigarh:- Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday announced that the Taxation Department has launched a large-scale coordinated enforcement drive across Punjab to check tobacco tax evasion, which has led to the detection of unaccounted goods worth about Rs 1.50 crore.
Sharing details, Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, "Following the recent increase in tax rates on tobacco products like cigarettes, bidis and related items, the department had received specific inputs about the increase in tax evasion activities in this area.
Acting on this intelligence, teams of four State Investigation and Prevention Units located in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar were mobilized. These units conducted simultaneous inspections at eight different locations, including five registered business establishments and three establishments that were running without any registration."
Elaborating on the results of the enforcement drive, the Minister said, "Major successes have been achieved in Ludhiana and Amritsar, where teams made considerable efforts to identify hidden storage locations and unaccounted stock. During in-depth inspection of both the main shops and the associated godowns, a huge quantity of goods was found to be stored and sold without proper invoices."
He further said that the seized stock includes about 1.32 lakh packets of Indian cigarettes, 18,472 packets of Indian bidis, 302 packets of zarda, 13 packets and 95 boxes of imported cigarettes, 148 hookah items of foreign origin, 13,000 lighters and 18 packs of coolip.
Providing a financial assessment, Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “As per the provisions of the law, tax liability exceeding Rs 50 lakh on seized goods will be strictly recovered, along with applicable penalties. So far, an amount of Rs 12 lakh has already been recovered and the process of further recovery is actively underway.” Reiterating the Bhagwant Mann government’s zero-tolerance stance against tax evasion, Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “Such coordinated enforcement operations will continue unabated to ensure strict tax compliance and protect the state’s revenue.” He also issued a stern warning to traders and appealed to them to maintain proper documentation and strictly follow the legal provisions to avoid severe punitive action.