Chandigarh: To streamline the working of liquor-manufacturing units, the Punjab excise department has roped in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, for carrying out a structural audit of the layouts and technical audit of the mass flow meters (MFM) installed in these units.
An official said the department had collaborated with an independent agency to review and audit the working and systems of units which include 16 distilleries, four breweries and 25 bottling plants. These units, which are manufacturing extra neutral alcohol, denatured spirit, Indian made foreign liquor, Punjab medium liquor, and beer are established after the grant of licence by the excise department and work as per the norms laid down in excise laws.
The official said the structural layout of the units and pipelines laid out for carrying extra neutral alcohol (ENA)/denatured spirit/ rectified spirit are required to strictly comply with excise laws. Recently, MFMs were installed in all distilleries, bottling plants, and breweries at the instance of the excise department to accurately measure the quantity of ENA or other spirits produced by the distilleries and later dispatched or consumed for bottling.
A team comprising technical experts will audit each unit and give its report. The entire expenditure of the audit will be borne by the excise department.
The purpose of the audit is to check whether the plant and various structures built in them are as per the site map approved by the department. Along with this, pipelines laid out in the manufacturing unit will be checked. The purpose of checking the pipelines is to check that no parallel pipeline exists to take out the spirit from normal flow. A technical audit of the MFMs will be done to check specifications and calibration. It would also check if flowmeters are measuring the entire outflow of the spirit and no other pipeline is laid out to bypass the flowmeter.
The audit by the team of experts of IIT started on Monday, at Rajasthan Liquors Limited in Dera Bassi. It will cover all the manufacturing units of the state in a span of six months. This audit will go a long way in bringing compliance at the manufacturing level and prevent pilferage of ENA and protect the revenue of the state, added the spokesperson.
