FAISALABAD: Punjab Minister for Excise & Taxation and Anti-Narcotics Hafiz Mumtaz Ahmad announced that he would hold open courts regularly to address the public complaints about the Excise Department.
He said innovative measures would be taken for prompt service delivery by the department for the relief of the citizens. He was listening to the problems of the citizens during an open court at local office of Excise Department.
Listening to people’s complaints, the minister said that the tout mafia would be eliminated around the Excise offices and no one would be allowed to exploit the citizens. He said that new reforms in the department were being introduced and people would see positive change in near future. He informed that smart cards would be issued to the owners on motorvehicle registration and transparent assessment of property tax would be ensured.
The minister said that the govt departments would be made public welfare institutions in real sense under the leadership of Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and CM Punjab Usman Buzdar and no political pressure would be put on govt. departments. He said that the present govt does not believe in protocol vanity and culture of simplicity would be promoted in every section of life.
Later, Punjab minister took briefing regarding the functions and performance of the local Excise Department. Director Excise Ms Fiza Shah gave the details of recoveries in the heads of property tax, professional tax, motor vehicle taxes, and entertainment tax. She also informed him about the administrative setup of the department in Faisalabad Division.
The minister advised the officers to work very hard for showing the positive change in the department and warned that no corruption would be tolerated in the department. He directed for keeping vigilant eye on the lower staff to check the any irregularity, mismanagement and corruption. He stressed upon raising the performance of sub offices of excise department at tehsil and town level and said tax collection be made amicably through positive and good behavior.