Contai hooch toll 21, one arrested

CONTAI,6 MAY: The official toll in Monday's hooch tragedy in East Midnapore rose to 21, with one more person dying at the district hospital in Tamluk on Tuesday. Unofficial reports, however, said three more persons had died in the villages.

In Kolkata, chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti said one person has been arrested in this connection, and announced the formation of a one-man committee of additional commissioner of excise, Ananda Ghosh, who will inquire into how the incident took place and pin down responsibility. He will submit his report by May 18. Chakrabarti said raids were on all along, and in the last three months, five persons were arrested in Tamluk alone. Even as excise and finance minister Asim Dasgupta had announced he would make the state free from illicit liquor, Chakrabarti said had the state reached such a stage now, such an incident would not have taken place.

Nearly 50 people are still at the Tamluk hospital. Hundreds of others have been kept under observation. Medical teams have been sent to more villages while district health officials have contacted Kolkata, seeking more facilities. "The district hospital has never faced such a situation and we don't have the kind of infrastructure required to handle it effectively. Had there been an intensive care unit at the hospital, we could have performed dialysis on the more serious patients and saved a few lives. We have taken up the matter with the state health department," said district CMOH Rabi Kinkar Naik.

With a large area under the Shahid Matangini Block being affected, Trinamool Congress has trained its guns on CPM. District magistrate Choten D Lama prepared for raids at places where illicit liquor is brewed. "We had conducted raids earlier, but could not locate many of the spots. There may have been leaks from our side," said Lama. It is evident that an organized racket under the aegis of Trinamool Candidate of Tamluk constituency Suvendu Adhikary, operates in the area with Nandakumar being the main distribution hub. The Bera family has been running the illegal liquor den on the main road at Ramtaroghat for two generations now. Many of the bottles of poisonous liquor were bought from this shop on Monday. Present owner Gopal Bera fled after the incident. Most of the hooch in the district comes from Mohammadpur, Kalyanpur, Bhabanipur, Kolsar, Rajnagar, Geonkhali and Santhalchowk in the Nandakumar, Mahishadal and Moyna police station areas.

A mixture of water, yeast, molasses and a special kind of salt is put into 20-litre earthenware jars and left to ferment inside ponds. Distillation yields six litres of hooch from each jar. Insiders revealed that a problem with the proportion of yeast or salt in the mixture can result in a tragedy like Monday's. A visit to Mohammadpur revealed that even women and children are involved in the process. Locals revealed that each distiller has to pay the local police up to Rs 15,000 per month to keep his business running.

After Monday's incident, police had paid a visit to the area. Broken jars bore evidence of this. Despite that, villagers were seen pouring the stuff into bottles. The distillation process now takes place during the night. There are around 20 such distilleries in Mohammadpur. Sources said a panchayat member is involved in the racket that has been running for over four decades. Police conduct raids from time to time, but do not meet with much success. Divers are hired by them to jump into the ponds and demolish the fermentation jars hidden inside. Sources revealed that the divers often strike a deal with the bootleggers and for Rs 50 extra, leave the jars intact.

Ashim suggests more legal outlets to curb hooch menace

KOLKATA, 9 January, 2009: Excise and finance minister Ashim Dasgupta has a novel way of addressing the hooch menace that is on the rise in the state. He has suggested the setting up of legal outlets, whether of country liquor or India made foreign liquor (IMFL) to meet the increasing demand for alcohol.  Of course, the timing has raised questions about whether this is just a ploy to increase the number of shops. 

Dasgupta, however, fished out figures to indicate that the number of country liquor and IMFL shops per lakh population is only four in the state. This is far less than that of many other states. For Karnataka has 41, Maharashtra 14, Andhra Pradesh 10, Tamil Nadu 11 in West Bengal there are only 4 shops per lakh population. The minister met excise officials and home secretary Ardhendu Sen to chalk out ways in which to fight the illegal liquor menace by "meeting the demand in the state so that it does not lead to illegal trade". 

He said the price of country liquor had to be increased by 8 per cent since the price of the main ingredient molasses has increased 80 times. "If the price of molasses comes down, the price of liquor would also come down," Dasgupta assured. Ahead of the polls, the state government has even planned to provide alternative employment to the poor involved in the illegal trade. While he did not want to disclose the demand and supply figures, he simply said West Bengal would deal with the demand by allowing what is permissible. 

The government has chalked out a two-pronged strategy to win over the people against the menace of illicit liquor trade. On the one hand, it has decided to nab the culprits and destroy the illegal liquor centres and on the other, provide job opportunities to help the poor quit the trade.

Two more hooch deaths in city, toll rises to 28

Kolkata, Jan 6: Two persons died after consuming spurious liquor in New Market area today as the number of hooch deaths in the city rose to 28.Police said two persons died at state-run hospitals after consuming spurious liquor in New market area, three day after the hooch tragedy in West Port area which claimed 26 lives.

Sada Mallick and Rongila Hela, two sweepers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, consumed the brew at a den on Marquis Street and fell ill.While Sada, admitted to Sambhunath Pandit Hospital today died later, Rongila, who was admitted with vomitting symptoms at another state-run hospital yesterday, succumbed this afternoon.

The deaths took place barely three days after the hooch tragedy in the West Port police station area, just a few kilometres away from New Market, where 26 persons died in past couple of days, with the condition of three more stated to be critical.

In the Port area local people destroyed huge quantities of liquor bottles, cans and bladders and razed to ground hooch dens.West Bengal Finance and Excise Minister Asim Dasgupta has ordered a departmental inquiry to identify lapses which led to the deaths in port area since Saturday night.

Toll in Kolkata liquor tragedy rises to 23, six arrested

Kolkata, 5th January, 2009 : The number of people who died in Kolkata after consuming poisonous country-made liquor has risen to 23, West Bengal minister Asim Dasgupta said on Monday. Six people were arrested and raids conducted on illicit liquor shops in the Khidirpore port area.

"Twenty-three people have died after consuming spurious liquor since Saturday night at Khidirpore port area (south-west Kolkata)," Finance and Excise Department Minister Asim Dasgupta told reporters Monday. Dasgupta said six people have been arrested and three officers of the excise department and city police have been issued show cause notices in the hooch tragedy.

"Six brewers have been arrested and several detained in the hooch tragedy. The Excise Directorate has sent show cause notices to two officers and the city police commissioner has issued a notice to one of his officers. Based on their statement, proper departmental action will be taken," Dasgupta said.

The minister said joint raids are being conducted by the Excise Directorate and Kolkata Police in the area since Sunday night. "A night-long raid was conducted Sunday by Excise officers and the city police. Today illicit liquor shops were raided and demolished in the Khidirpore area. We are also trying to locate the source of this poisonous hooch," Dasgupta said.

"The government will bear the medical expenses of the victims admitted in hospital. We will also see if compensation can be given to the families of the deceased," he said. Dasgupta said raids would be conducted regularly across Kolkata on illicit liquor shops. "The Excise Department and Kolkata Police have decided to keep a watch on illicit liquor dens. Regular raids will be conducted across the city. We are thinking of conducting such raids in the districts too," Dasgupta said.

Many labourers at the Bibi Halt and Hooghly Basti areas of Khidirpore fell ill after a late night drinking session Saturday. They started vomiting blood and writhed in pain after reaching home from the illegally-run liquor shops. Many died before they could be taken to the hospital. An angry mob later damaged several shops.

Spurious liquor kills 13

KOLKATA, 4th January, 2009: At least 13 people died and 25 fell sick after drinking poisonous country-made liquor here, police said today. “Three persons died late yesterday night. Ten more have died today after consuming poisonous country-made liquor at West Port area near Khidderpore in south-west Kolkata. At least 25 people have been admitted to three hospitals in critical condition,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Jawed Shamim told reporters here.

Four people have been arrested and raids were underway in several parts of Kolkata to catch the culprits, Shamim said. According to police sources, there are over 20 illegal country liquor shops in the area. “We have raided the shops and collected liquor samples to detect the exact nature of poison in them. All bodies will be sent for postmortem examination. An investigation has started and right action will be taken against the culprits,” Shamim said.

Earlier, Special Additional Police Commissioner Debasis Roy said seven people, including three women, were detained for selling poisonous country-made liquor.According to police sources, many slum dwellers in the area are addicted to drinking and they get the liquor from the local shops.But the men who bought and drank the country-made liquor on Saturday night fell sick immediately. While some died after acute stomach ache, many were admitted to hospitals in critical condition. State Minister Manab Mukherjee and Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee visited the area in the evening to console the family members of the victims and the sick.