*Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai’s biggest action against corruption*
*Message of zero tolerance on corruption*
*Our aim is to give the public a transparent, accountable and honest administration: Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai*
*Immediate suspension of 22 excise officers is a strong blow to corruption*
*Action against officers from IAS, IFS to state service*
Raipur, July 11, 2025/ In Chhattisgarh, under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai, the government is moving forward with a policy of zero tolerance on corruption. Along with this, strict steps are being taken against corruption. Taking the biggest action so far in the much-discussed liquor scam of Rs 3200 crore during the previous regime, the Sai government has suspended 22 out of 29 excise officers. This action of suspension is being considered the biggest action ever taken by any state. These officers are accused of making movable and immovable properties by corruption between 2019 and 2023 and making illegal earnings of about Rs 88 crore.
The detailed investigation conducted by the Economic Offenses Investigation Bureau (EOW) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) revealed that the entire scam was being operated through an organized syndicate, in which the accused excise officers played an active role.
As soon as this was revealed, the Chhattisgarh government suspended 22 officers without delay. These include Excise Deputy Commissioners Animesh Netam, Arvind Kumar Patle, Neetu Notani, Nohar Singh Thakur, Vijay Sen Sharma. Similarly, Assistant Commissioners of Excise Pramod Kumar Netam, Vikas Kumar Goswami, Naveen Pratap Singh Tomar, Rajesh Jaiswal, Manjushree Kaser, Dinkar Wasnik, Ashish Kosam, Saurabh Bakshi, Prakash Pal, Ramkrishna Mishra, Alakh Ram Kaser, Sonal Netam and District Excise Officer Mohit Kumar Jaiswal, Garibpal Singh Dardi, Iqbal Ahmed Khan, Janardan Singh Kaurav, Nitin Kumar Khanduja are included.
It is noteworthy that during the five-year tenure of the previous government, many big scams have taken place, which are being investigated by central and state agencies and all the culprits are being sent to jail one by one. Not only the liquor scam, the state government is also conducting a thorough investigation into cases like the DMF scam, Mahadev Satta App scam and Tendu leaf scam, in which strict action is being taken against the culprits if any kind of involvement comes to light. In the last two years, ACB has caught more than 200 corrupt officers, which is a great example of the state government’s zero tolerance policy.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Sai, the Chhattisgarh government is giving top priority to good governance and transparent administration in the state along with curbing corruption. Under this, it has been made mandatory to purchase from the GEM portal, e-office system has been started, the path of investment has been made corruption-free, transparent and easy through more than 350 reforms, in the same sequence, the process of NOC has been made very simple through Single Window System 2.0.
The Chhattisgarh government has abolished the FL-10 policy in the Excise Department and implemented a transparent system and now holograms printed from Nashik Printing Press have been made mandatory on the bottles of Indian and foreign liquor so that the sale of fake liquor can be stopped. Similarly, the process of mineral transit pass has now been made completely online, the e-auction system of wood has been implemented and the Department of Good Governance and Convergence has been established for better implementation of schemes.
The Chhattisgarh government has handed over the investigation into the irregularities in the PSC-2021 examination to the CBI, in which the then chairman of the commission has been arrested. At the same time, the investigation of Bharatmala Yojana and CGMSC scams has also been handed over to EOW, in which the guilty officers have been suspended. In this transparent action against corruption, action has also been taken against officers of various levels from IAS, IFS to state service.
Chief Minister Shri Vishnu Dev Sai has clearly said that this scam took place during the tenure of the previous government, no culprit involved in the scam will be spared. Now there is no place for corruption in the state, the objective of our government is to give the public a transparent, accountable and honest administration.
