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Who will weed out the sellers of death?
Statesman News Service
BERHAMPUR, April 25: Spurious liquor claimed at least 42 lives and led to four people becoming blind since last month in Ganjam district.
Although the intensity of spurious liquor deaths in Ganjam was awesome during the past seven weeks, spurious liquor had started knocking on many doors months earlier. Excise officials and police ignored these warnings.
Few deaths related to spurious liquor are reported every year in Ganjam. But usually, they are hushed up by the authorities until there are deaths on a largescale.
Authorities usually deny these deaths by claiming them to be deaths due to natural ailments. In the last week of February, three deaths after consumption of alleged spurious liquor occurred at the Majhigaon and Kaithapalli villages in the Golanthara police station area.
Initially, police claimed it to be bird flu related deaths but later it was said that the deaths were caused due to old age, tuberculosis and other ailments.
But one thing was common in all these deaths; all of them had consumed spurious liquor before their death. On 22 September, five persons had died at the Patigovindpur village of Chikiti block after consuming spurious liquor.
But the authorities claimed that these deaths were caused due to consumption of water from paddy fields where pesticides and fertilizer had been used. But the spurious liquor vendor, who had sold liquor to the victims of Patigovindpur is still at large and his house is sealed.
Reports of largescale, spurious liquor deaths started pouring in from the district on 17 March from villages such as Sanaramchandrapur and Gada Huma of the Humma area of Ganjam district.
Within the next five days, spurious liquor claimed at least 26 lives in the area and had resulted in four people losing their eyesight.
Raids by special squads of the police and excise department followed. Several illicit liquor traders were arrested. But no big fish was arrested. Some excise and police officials were suspended.
On the night of 26 March, police seized at least 4,300 litres of industrial spirit stored in 16 barrels from cashew jungles just a few kilometres from Sana Ramchandrapur village.
Police and excise officials claimed that they had seized the illegal methyl alcohol stock that was the root cause behind the liquor deaths in the district.
But the vendors of illicit spurious liquor continued their trade in the district. The lethal fangs of spurious liquor dug into two youths of Harijan Street near Gatebazar area of the city on 17 April.
The two dead persons had consumed spurious liquor on the night of 16 April. This was followed by reports of three more alleged spurious liquor deaths near Chatrapur and the Berhampur suburb. These deaths were termed to be deaths due to ailments by the authorities.
But the police and excise officials could not deny the 11 spurious liquor deaths that occurred at Golabandha village over the past few days.
The excise superintendent of Ganjam and the circle inspector of Berhampur sadar police circle had to bear the brunt as they were suspended after the chief minister?s visit to the Golabandha yesterday.
And Mr Kalindi Behera, the excise minister who has just resigned, continued to say, standing a few metres from the victims of liquor tragedy at the MKCG Medical College yesterday, that he would never take moral responsibility for the liquor deaths. He was pressed by the chief minister to resign from his post today.
But several villages in Ganjam continue to be cottage industries for brewing spurious country liquor and there are also several units manufacturing spurious India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the district.
The complete ban on liquor in adjoining Andhra Pradesh during the reign of NTRama Rao over the last decade proved to be a boom time for illicit brewers and traders of spurious liquor in Ganjam.
They earned a fortune by smuggling locally made country liquor to Andhra Pradesh.
These illicit traders of death surely have top-level connections and the real kingpins would never be caught in the web of the law.
Who will weed out the sellers of death?
Statesman News Service
BERHAMPUR, April 25: Spurious liquor claimed at least 42 lives and led to four people becoming blind since last month in Ganjam district.
Although the intensity of spurious liquor deaths in Ganjam was awesome during the past seven weeks, spurious liquor had started knocking on many doors months earlier. Excise officials and police ignored these warnings.
Few deaths related to spurious liquor are reported every year in Ganjam. But usually, they are hushed up by the authorities until there are deaths on a largescale.
Authorities usually deny these deaths by claiming them to be deaths due to natural ailments. In the last week of February, three deaths after consumption of alleged spurious liquor occurred at the Majhigaon and Kaithapalli villages in the Golanthara police station area.
Initially, police claimed it to be bird flu related deaths but later it was said that the deaths were caused due to old age, tuberculosis and other ailments.
But one thing was common in all these deaths; all of them had consumed spurious liquor before their death. On 22 September, five persons had died at the Patigovindpur village of Chikiti block after consuming spurious liquor.
But the authorities claimed that these deaths were caused due to consumption of water from paddy fields where pesticides and fertilizer had been used. But the spurious liquor vendor, who had sold liquor to the victims of Patigovindpur is still at large and his house is sealed.
Reports of largescale, spurious liquor deaths started pouring in from the district on 17 March from villages such as Sanaramchandrapur and Gada Huma of the Humma area of Ganjam district.
Within the next five days, spurious liquor claimed at least 26 lives in the area and had resulted in four people losing their eyesight.
Raids by special squads of the police and excise department followed. Several illicit liquor traders were arrested. But no big fish was arrested. Some excise and police officials were suspended.
On the night of 26 March, police seized at least 4,300 litres of industrial spirit stored in 16 barrels from cashew jungles just a few kilometres from Sana Ramchandrapur village.
Police and excise officials claimed that they had seized the illegal methyl alcohol stock that was the root cause behind the liquor deaths in the district.
But the vendors of illicit spurious liquor continued their trade in the district. The lethal fangs of spurious liquor dug into two youths of Harijan Street near Gatebazar area of the city on 17 April.
The two dead persons had consumed spurious liquor on the night of 16 April. This was followed by reports of three more alleged spurious liquor deaths near Chatrapur and the Berhampur suburb. These deaths were termed to be deaths due to ailments by the authorities.
But the police and excise officials could not deny the 11 spurious liquor deaths that occurred at Golabandha village over the past few days.
The excise superintendent of Ganjam and the circle inspector of Berhampur sadar police circle had to bear the brunt as they were suspended after the chief minister?s visit to the Golabandha yesterday.
And Mr Kalindi Behera, the excise minister who has just resigned, continued to say, standing a few metres from the victims of liquor tragedy at the MKCG Medical College yesterday, that he would never take moral responsibility for the liquor deaths. He was pressed by the chief minister to resign from his post today.
But several villages in Ganjam continue to be cottage industries for brewing spurious country liquor and there are also several units manufacturing spurious India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the district.
The complete ban on liquor in adjoining Andhra Pradesh during the reign of NTRama Rao over the last decade proved to be a boom time for illicit brewers and traders of spurious liquor in Ganjam.
They earned a fortune by smuggling locally made country liquor to Andhra Pradesh.
These illicit traders of death surely have top-level connections and the real kingpins would never be caught in the web of the law.