95 per cent of the defaulters have passed away, forcing officials to search for their heirs
State government, after going through the defaulters' list has directed the excise officials to collect the arrears without fail
Khammam: The Telangana government’s diktat to collect arrears from contractors who used to sell arrack before Independence has put the state excise department officials in a bind. The state government, after going through the defaulters’ list has directed the excise officials to collect the arrears without fail. As per the list, 367 persons who ran arrack shops in the district from 1942 to 1949 owed Rs12.56 crore to then Nizam government.
The Nizam’s government used to auction licences for running the arrack shops without taking deposits. The contractors would pay the fee amount to the government after the end of the financial year. However, the contractors did not pay the licence fee to the government. Their names are still in the list of defaulters and have been carried forward all these years.
A high level excise official recently visited the district and reviewed the defaulters’ list, and directed the officials to recover the arrears.To recover these dues, the excise officials have to start sending notices. However, about 95 per cent of the Nizam-era defaulters have passed away, forcing officials to search for their heirs.An excise official said, "50 per cent of these heirs have also died and now it is difficult for us to trace their offspring. We have no option but to follow the directions of our higher-ups."
As many as 296 persons have arrears of Rs 9.30 crore in Khammam division while another 71 owe Rs3.36 crore in arrears in Kothagudem division. The excise official said, "The arrack contractors used to run the show for 40 years. The system changed after the government brought in the new Excise Act in 1986."
( Source : dc correspondent )
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