Capt failed to act against liquor smuggling: Akali Dal

Addressing a press conference here, SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said the chief minister was duty bound to protect state resources and act against those looting its treasury

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday accused chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh of failing in his constitutional duty to take action against some Congress leaders indulging involved in liquor smuggling.

Sukhbir Singh Badal

Addressing a press conference here, SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said the chief minister was duty bound to protect state resources and act against those looting its treasury. “The CM should tell Punjabis why he has not taken action till now even though Congress politicians have caused a loss of Rs 5,600 crore to the state exchequer in league with the liquor mafia in the last three years,” he alleged.

Cheema also alleged that it had also come to light that thousands of litres of ENA (extra neutral alcohol) had been unlawfully released from distilleries owned by Congressmen and their close associates and was dispatched to illegal distilleries and bottling plants as has been revealed in Khanna, Rajpura and Ludhiana cases.

He demanded identification and action against distilleries engaging in this illegality besides audit of the ENA stock of all distilleries in the state. “Only an inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court can probe this multi-thousand crore scam,” he said, accusing the state government of a cover-up.