MULTAN: Cooperation between the police and the Excise and Taxation Department has not only led to a jump in revenue collection of Multan division but also helped police improve the law and order situation.

The Excise and Taxation Department collected Rs1.22 billion during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, from July to March, from four districts of Multan division, including Lodhran, Khanewal, Multan and Vehari.

The department collected Rs355.5 million in property tax, Rs644.5 million vehicle tax, Rs47 million excise tax, Rs3.5 million entertainment duty, Rs33 million professional tax, Rs22.2 million hotel tax and 113.6 million cotton fee.

Regional Police Officer (RPO) Captain Muhammad Amin Wains said after taking charge he had a detailed meeting with the excise and taxation director to launch a crackdown against unregistered vehicles. He said seizing unregistered vehicles with the department’s staff helped the police in recovery of several stolen vehicles.

He claimed this would stop use of stolen vehicles for criminal activities. He said as a result of the joint operation against unregistered vehicles, on one hand the excise department had generated revenue while on the other hand it had helped the police to improve law and order situation.

The RPO said after taking on board the commissioner, he had constituted joint teams at union council level comprising an excise constable, a police constable and union council secretary. The teams started verification of property tax data already available with the excise department, he added.

“It once again helped the Excise and Taxation Department to increase its revenue by bringing into tax net the people who were not paying property tax, while on the other hand the police succeeded in obtaining complete data of property owners and renters at union council level,” he added.

He said the survey also helped the police identify residences of people with criminal records that would make their monitoring easy. He said a booth had been established with the help of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited at Sher Shah Toll Plaza to maintain data of vehicles passing through and their passengers.

Capt Wains said besides policemen, traffic, highway, motorway police and excise staff had been deployed at entry and exit points of the city to check vehicles.

Excise and Taxation Director Jam Siraj told Dawn the division’s target for the current fiscal year was Rs1.23 billion, which had been achieved within nine months only because of police cooperation. He said last year the target was Rs940 million while the department had managed to collect Rs1.23 billion, which became their target for the current fiscal year.

He said effective road checking with the help of police was the major reason behind the recovery in terms of token and other allied taxes. He also said due to clear instructions of the RPO, police officers at police station level refused to release seized vehicles without payment.