Kerala - Kozhikode   

Tax evasion mafia targeted: Isaac

Kozhikode: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac on Saturday said that action had been initiated to end the artificial shortage of chicken, rein in its price and punish the mafia evading tax while bringing chicken from neighbouring States.

“We will end chicken scarcity and eliminate the mafia operating this racket,” Dr. Isaac said at a press conference here.

The Finance Minister said a new system to crush the “chicken mafia” and ensure availability of meat at a reasonable price had been put in place.

The police had been given instructions to arrest those behind the racket. Three special squads of the intelligence wing of the Commercial Taxes Department had been deployed to nab those abetting tax evaders.

These squads, which have the authority to seize documents, had seized a diary that contained evidence of involvement in the racket from an accountant.

Dr. Isaac said more arrests would be made in the near future.

The government had also set in motion a series of measures to end the “artificial scarcity of chicken meat and check the sharp increase in its price”.

It had been decided to allow those merchants having registration to bring in chicken from across the border. Till now, only those merchants who had special registration could bring in chicken.

Another decision was to withdraw the regulation by which delivery notes were needed for bringing in chicken from other States. The merchants who had already been issued delivery notes were being asked to return them to the department.

Fake note detectors would be installed at all check-posts soon so that chicken traders would be able to make payment in cash.

It would replace the tedious system of making payments by demand draft. The Minister was hopeful that the new system would start showing results soon.

Poultry societies and traders in Tamil Nadu had promised to cooperate with the government’s efforts, Dr. Isaac said.

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