The Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) Employees Association, affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, has demanded that the government abandon the move to entrust the printing and production of hologram-embedded security tax labels with a private company in Karnataka.
Association president Kadakampally Surendran told presspersons here on Monday that C-DIT had been producing the labels under the control and scrutiny of the Excise Department for the distribution and sale of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) in a foolproof manner. The bid to entrust the work to the private company had begun in full swing after K. Babu took over as Excise Minister. The contract for the work was given to C-DIT only for short periods.
Once the bid was exposed, corruption charges were raised against the Excise Department within the Assembly and outside. The department then withdrew the move, but the plan was to entrust the work to the company under the cover of C-DIT. Thus, C-DIT had invited an expression of interest, Mr. Surendran said. Though C-DIT had offered to produce the labels as per the specifications set by the Excise Department, the government had chosen to ignore it, and moves were on to give the work to the company in Karnataka. This would pave the way for huge revenue loss and sale of poor quality IMFL in the State.