The Excise Department too is playing an important role in this project by coming down hard on authorised and unauthorised hotels and restaurants, to ensure that Excise regulations are not violated and to put an end to illegal operations at some of these establishments.
DIG Colombo, Pujith Jayasundera said so far the police had raided and forwarded to courts 763 cases of illegal activity, including 180 cases of heroin, 238 cases of marijuana, 91 cases of alcohol (short measure or adulterated) and 18 cases of prostitution.He said the clean-up operation would be carried out for a month, after which IGP, Chandra Fernando, would assess all the reports and decide whether this operation should be continued or not.DIG Jayasundera said prior to this operation in the Colombo city, a similar “clean-up” project had been successfully conducted in the Gampaha region so much so that President Chandrika Kumaratunga had in a letter commended the IGP and praised the police on a job well done.
He said similar clean-up programmes were also being carried out in Kegalle, Ratnapura, Matara and Galle. DIG Jayasundera said the Tourist Board was assisting them by providing information regarding licensed establishments and the police have had numerous discussions with the Tourist Board in the past as well where they had discussed the prevalence of unregistered establishments and the need to take strong action against them.
“Therefore, it’s now at the implementation stage”, he said. Tourist Board Director General S. Kalaiselvam said the Tourist Board generally assessed the quality and standard of a particular establishment prior to granting Board approval.
“Thereafter, the Board recommends the establishment to the Excise Department for the issuance of a liquor licence”, he said. Mr. Kalaiselvam said a liquor licence entitled a holder to serve liquor only till 11 p.m., but regrettably however, the Tourist Board had observed that some of these places did not adhere to this regulation and often served liquor even after the permitted time.
The Tourist Board Director General said it was essential to take action against unauthorised establishments as otherwise it was unfair by the establishments that pay taxes, as those who avoided paying taxes were able to keep their prices low.
He said the Tourist Board was fully supportive of this initiative and was giving its fullest cooperation to both the Excise Department and the police by providing them with the lists of registered establishments.
An Excise Department official said it had deployed eight teams comprising five to six officers each (including those recruited from the out stations), to conduct daily raids on restaurants and hotels, to ensure they function in keeping with excise regulations.
He said that on an average these teams managed to raid about 10 to 15 places each night and so far action has been taken against 42 of them while the others were carrying out their businesses in keeping with the rules and regulations stipulated in the licence.
The official said that although the general rule stated that no liquor could be served after 11 p.m., some 35 to 40 establishments had obtained permission to extend the cut-off time till 12 midnight or till 2 a.m. in certain other instances based on legitimate reasons, for instance, hotel guest requests.
The official said of the 42 establishments, 26 were authorised establishments and their licences had been temporarily suspended with letters of explanation asked for by the Excise Department. He said so far only three letters had been received.
“On receipt of these letters, the Finance Minister and the Excise Department will together decide on the course of action to be taken, whether a fine or cancellation of their licences”, the official said. He said until such time these places would remain closed. The remaining 16 hotels or restaurants raided being unauthorised establishments would be shut down and reports forwarded to courts for necessary legal action.
(http://www.sundaytimes.lk/050724/news/15.html)
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