Hooch Tragedy: To stem flow of spurious liquor, Malerkotla admn turns to activists, women, kiln owners

Mahesh Sharma

Malerkotla, March 26

In an initiative to avoid any unfortunate incident such as the hooch tragedy in Sangrur district that claimed more than 20 lives, the Malerkotla administration has launched a coordinated movement to spread awareness regarding the causes and consequences of consuming illegally prepared intoxicants, besides checking the inflow of illegal liquor in the region.

Seminars at factories, slums

• Ajay Mittal, a senior functionary in the Excise Department, said office-bearers of organisations working for the welfare for women, children and labourers had been roped in for facilitating the conduct of events to sensitise people regarding the risks of consuming intoxicants being illegally prepared and sold at unauthorised outlets.
• Nukad meetings, workshops and seminars are being held at various public places, factories, brick kilns and slums by officials in the police and civil administration.

Members of special groups, including social activists, women, owners, factory managers and brick kiln owners, will be at the centre of the campaign against spurious liquor launched in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha poll.

Nukad meetings, workshops and seminars are being held at various public places, factories, brick kilns and slums by officials in the police and civil administration under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Pallavi and SSP Simrat Kaur.

City SHO Sukhpal Kaur said joint teams of the police and Excise Department were organising events to spread awareness among special groups of workers and labourers to familiarise them with the ill effects of consuming illicit and spurious liquor, besides conducting search of vehicles.

Ajay Mittal, a senior functionary in the Excise Department, said office-bearers of organisations working for the welfare for women, children and labourers had been roped in for facilitating the conduct of events to sensitise people on the risks of consuming intoxicants being prepared and sold illegally at unauthorised outlets.

The Sangrur hooch tragedy had shocked the region falling under Malerkotla and Ludhiana districts, primarily due to the immediate proximity and free movement of vehicles, including public transport, to and from epicentres of the tragedy.

Though the police had already launched a crackdown against peddlers, the administration does not want to take any chances to allow the intrusion of hooch scammers in the region.

The Election Commission of India had also taken serious cognisance of the tragedy and sought an immediate interim report from the Chief Secretary Punjab and Director General Punjab on Saturday.

Claiming that the Excise officials had been cautioned against any inflow of illegal intoxicants much before the Sangrur tragedy, DC Pallavi said a coordinated campaign had been launched to sensitise all stakeholders against the recurrence of any such incident.

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