Bhubaneswar, July 7: The Odisha government today decided to have dedicated excise stations to deal with related offences and enforcement activities.

At present, the department depends on state police for these activities.

"We will have dedicated stations so that our staff members can handle the prosecution and enforcement independently and effectively," excise minister Sashi Bhusan Behera told The Telegraph.

Excise police stations exist in several states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Goa.

The decision to set up excise stations was taken today at a meeting of officials presided over by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi.

Excise secretary V.V. Yadav said the stations were being set up under provisions of the Odisha Excise Act, 2008.

Former director-general of police Gopal Chandra Nanda said: "The move to have separate stations will be effective if there are adequate excise staff to conduct prosecution and enforcement independently."

The Odisha Excise Act says: "The excise station will be headed by an officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector. For the purpose of investigation of offences under the excise act, the officer will have the same powers as are conferred on an officer in charge of a police station under the code of criminal procedure."

An excise department official said revenue collection had been adversely affected this year following the Supreme Court order to shut down liquor shops located within 500 metres of national and state highways.

Following the apex court directive, 1,240 of the total 4,074 shops have now closed down. Of them, 810 shops have been shifted and reopened. In a bid to facilitate reopening of shops, the government had renamed state highways as urban roads. This had helped the government circumvent the apex court and re-open 300-odd shops.

Despite the closure of shops, the government had not lost revenue. By June this year, it has collected Rs 670 crore as compared to Rs 659 crore during the corresponding period last year.

During the meeting, it was also decided to tighten enforcement activities and check sale of illicit and spurious liquor.

The excise official said 21,277 cases had been detected and 17,784 persons had been arrested under the Excise Act in 2016-17.

It was decided during the meeting today to fill up the vacant posts and intensify enforcement activities in the current year.