To give ‘extra kick’, makers of illegal liquor use dried skin of lizards, frogs

Dried skin of frogs, lizards and organic waste — these are among the ingredients increasingly being used by manufacturers of cheap country liquor during distillation to make the brew stronger.

This is being done as they believe that consumers would “get a good high” due to it, said a former bootlegger, adding that it also cut their input cost as other ingredients were a bit costly. He said illegally prepared liquor might cost as low as Rs 50 per bottle, increasing the possibility of a “deadly mix” due to the lack of regulatory checks on the use of ingredients being used for the preparation. Traditionally, country liquor or ‘lahan’ is a solution usually made from fermented jaggery or molasses.

This is mixed with different concoctions, including yeast extracted from local plants and fermented orange, apple or jamun, as well as water which is usually extracted from ponds or places without guarantee of quality. The former liquor smuggler said presently methanol was a key ingredient used in the manufacturing of country liquor. The illegal chemical is a cheap alternative to ethanol, an important ingredient of alcoholic beverages.

According to the former smuggler, those indulging in the practice conceal spurious liquor in containers covered with polythene. “They bury these in pits for days as part of the fermentation process,” he said.

“This is also done to evade arrest. After some days, the liquor is brought out in the dead of the night and sold illegally with the help of a well-entrenched network,” he added. Following recent deaths in Amritsar’s Majitha, the police probe revealed that methanol was procured in bulk online to prepare the toxic brew that led to the death of at least 24 persons.

“The government has refused to learn any lessons from past experiences,” said Amarjit Singh Mann, a social activist from Sangrur.

Mann, who runs the NGO Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum, also sought a ban on the liquor trade, alleging that the government was only bothered about making money in taxes.

Earlier this year, the government had mooted to generate Rs 11,020 crore in taxes from the liquor trade, an increase of Rs 874 crore over the previous financial year.

A liquor contractor said over the years, liquor prices increased exorbitantly as the government eyed more revenue.

“The liquor contractors were left with no alternative but to increase prices. A daily-wager today earns on an average Rs 550 to 600 a day while a bottle of liquor sold at authorised vends generally costs Rs 300. Such pricing opens doors for those producing spurious liquor,” he said.