CHANDIGARH, JAN 20: The Punjab government and the administration of Union Territory of Chandigarh have decided to have a uniform excise policy during 1998-99 so as to check inter-state smuggling of liquor and evasion of excise duty.This was agreed upon yesterday at a joint meeting of Punjab and Chandigarh held here under the chairmanship of Lt Gen B K N Chhibber(retd), Punjab Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh.Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, finance minister Kanwaljit Singh, advisor to the administrator Jagdish Sagar and senior officers from both the sides participated.It was decided to hold a joint meeting of senior officers of excise and taxation departments of Punjab and Chandigarh here next week to work out modalities for bringing about uniformity in their respective excise policies from the next session.Chhibber emphasised that there should be total cooperation and consultation between the two sides before formulating their excise policies every year so as to put an end to the malpractice of smugglers and the `syndicates' of the liquor trade.Badal advocated that both Punjab and Chandigarh should announce their excise policies the same day. He said the proposed uniformity in them would be in accordance with the agreement among northern states of the country sometime back to have a uniform tax structure on various items so as to bring harmony in trade and business activity.Kanwaljit Singh called for a parity of market fee in Chandigarh and Punjab so that the flow of foodgrains from the latter to the former was checked.
