Excise Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan has said that the LDF government will not tolerate corruption and dereliction of duty at any cost.
He was speaking after taking salute at the passing-out parade of 131 civil excise officers, who completed training at Excise Academy, Thrissur, on Saturday.
“Increasing use of intoxicants has become a serious social issue in the State. Drugs and other intoxicants create criminals. We need to uproot the drug mafia to check anti-social activities. ‘Gunda-blade-sex’ rackets have been functioning hand in glove with the drug mafia. There should not be any compromise in controlling them,” he said.
The government has been waging a no-compromise war against the drug mafia. More than 11,000 drug cases have been registered in the last two years. In all, 42,000 abkari cases and 1.5 lakh COPTA (Cigarette and other tobacco product Act) cases have been registered by this government, the Minister said.
Excise Commissioner Rishi Raj Singh, Additional Excise Commissioner P. Vijayan, and Excise Akademi Principal K. Mohanan participated.
The Minister honoured the outgoing Principal K. Mohanan. He also flagged off the Monsoon Marathon programme to be held in Kochi on August 12.