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Mohali admn starts drive to curb pilferage of raw liquor in district
Joint teams of excise and police departments are conducting surprise checks at vulnerable points, said Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan.
The excise team here has started a drive against illegal activities relating to pilferage of extra neutral alcohol (ENA)/spirit in the district.
Recently, in Punjab’s worst hooch tragedy in three decades, hundreds of people died by alcohol poisoning after consuming illicit liquor in three districts of the state. The death toll in the spurious liquor consumption has risen to 121, officials said on Saturday.
Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said joint teams of excise and police departments are conducting surprise checks at vulnerable points, which include dhabas in Banur, Zirakpur and Derabassi, as such illegal activities have been reported more often in these areas in the past.
“Mohali has a unique position as it borders Chandigarh and Haryana. Liquor is comparatively cheaper in UT and Haryana. So, manufacturing of illicit liquor or lahan is not the main problem in the district but smuggling, pilferage of illicit spirit and ENA, the primary raw material for making alcoholic beverages, is a menace that needs to be curbed,” said Dayalan.
“We have had a meeting with the owners of distilleries and bottling plants and directed them to follow the excise laws, failing which stern action will be taken,” the DC added.
117 CASES FILED IN MOHALI DISTRICT
The DC informed that 117 cases have been registered under the Excise Act, while 131 accused have been arrested in the past seven months in the district. The seizure of illicit spirit/ENA to the tune of 72,700 litres has been made in less than 12 months.
In July, the excise department had detected 5,500 litres of spirit/ENA in Devi Nagar village in Derabassi and nabbed three persons for possessing the large quantity without licence.
Earlier in May, a history-sheeter liquor smuggler was caught and over 50,000 litres of ENA was seized from two tankers parked in Zirakpur. Similarly, 15 drums of spirit (3,000 litres) were seized from a dhaba in April.
