Meghalaya Intends to Amend Excise Rules to Boost Revenue: CM

Shillong, Nov 13 (PTI) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday said the state government intends to amend the excise rules in a bid to increase revenue generation of the department.

Conrad, who chaired the state cabinet meeting, said the ministers decided to meet again on Thursday to discuss and consider several suggestions pertaining to the matter.

"We have taken a decision to go with the concept but there were more suggestions that came in and these will now be incorporated in the amendment and brought before the cabinet tomorrow for its approval," he said.

Declining to elaborate further, the chief minister however said, "The new provisions will be inserted with an objective to increase the revenue collection and if it happens, we will see a significant jump in revenue of the excise department."

According to him, the government is in the process of ensuring that the overall revenue collection of the state is improved.

"We also discussed about the other departments. Revenue collection of each department must go up," he said.

Conrad said that his government will examine the long pending demand of the Meghalaya Association of Wine Makers (MMAW) for legalising making of wine from fruits in the state.

"We are examining on it but no decision has been taken (so far)," he said.

The association's president Michael Syiem had said many people are in the making of wine and the ball was in the court of the government to legalise it.

"If legalised, wine making will go a long way to give a fillip to horticulture and create employment opportunity to youth. This will help the state government garnering more revenue," he said.

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