Lucknow, Oct 13 (IANS): The Uttar Pradesh excise department is all geared up to check smuggling of liquor in view of the forthcoming Assembly bypolls in the state and also the Bihar Assembly elections.

Additional Chief Secretary (Excise), Sanjay Bhoosreddy, has directed excise personnel in the state to keep a lookout for bootlegging, smuggling and over pricing of liquor in the state, especially in districts bordering Bihar.

He also ordered special drives against distillation of illicit liquor.

According to Bhoosreddy, special plans have been drawn up to curb smuggling of liquor from Punjab and Haryana into Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

"The excise staff and Uttar Pradesh Police will jointly man posts at the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border to keep watch on the activities of smugglers. In addition, orders have been issued to regularly monitor all wine shops in the border districts," he said.

Uttar Pradesh excise commissioner P. Guruprasad said the department generated a record revenue of Rs 2,140.61 crore in September this year, which exceeded the revenue of September 2019 by Rs 329.65 crore. He said it was possible because of concerted and coordinated efforts by excise teams.

In September, excise teams across the state arrested 2,876 accused. He said that 328 vehicles used in illegal trading and smuggling of liquor had been impounded.