Mysore, Feb.25- The Mysore Central Excise Commissionerate celebrated Central Excise Day at Hotel Sandesh The Prince here yesterday.

Sandhya Baliga, Chief Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, Mysore Zone, who presided over the function, said that the Mysore Zone Commissionerate have come out with good performance this year and there is an 18 percent increase in tax collection. She added that it was imperative to simplify tax process thus making it customer-friendly.

Amitava Chatterjee, Vice-President (Works), JK Tyres, who was the chief guest, called upon the government to resolve the power crisis at the earliest which has affected both small scale and large scale industries. He lauded the establishment of e-governance by the Department has helped the industries a lot.

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Joshi, who also spoke on the occasion, lauded the department for exemption of customs duty on sports goods when imported into India for the purpose of organising Commonwealth Games-2010.

On the occasion, Sandhya Baliga gave away appreciation certificates to departmental officers and industries. The companies that were awarded certificates of appreciation were: Automobile Axles Ltd., Triton Valves, Askar Microns, JK Tyres, Mysore Polymers and Rubber Products, Kluber Lubrication, Mysore Paints and Varnishes, Nanjan-gud's Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd., Shimoga's Perfect Alloys Components, VISL-Bhadravati and Coromandal Sugars.

The officers who were awarded are R. Rajeevalohan, S. Shamsundar, H. Srinivas, Ramakrishna, Vipinjith, Inspectors C.A. Saraswathi, R. Ramesh Babu, D.R. Gopal Raju, H.K. Arun Kumar, S. Bala-subramanyam, Tax Assistant R. Krishnamurthy and Head Havaldar Chandrashekar. Prizes were also distributed to the winners of Hindi contests.

Indrajit Dasgupta, Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax, R. Krishna, President of Mysore Chamber of Commerce & In-dustries and Meera Radhakrishna, retd. Chief Commissioner, were present.

Courtesy : Star Of Mysore