Crack down on liquor vends

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, OCT. 17.

Swinging into action in the wake of loss of several lives due to consumption of illicit liquor in the satellite township of Noida, the Delhi Excise Department today arrested seven persons and registered cases against them for selling spurious liquor in pouches in various parts of the Capital.

The Delhi Finance Minister, Mr. Mahinder Singh Saathi, who reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting today ordered the Excise Department to continue with the raids and lifting samples from outlets across the city. These samples should be sent for testing to the laboratory to check and prevent the sale of any spurious liquor. The focus of this action would be country-made liquor.

The seven arrested were found selling liquor in pouches from various unauthorised outlets in Sultanpuri, Mangolpuri, Nangloi, Sarita Vihar, Mayur Vihar and Geeta Colony.

Mr. Saathi said he had asked the Excise Commissioner to put the Enforcement Wing of the Delhi Excise Department on the alert and conduct raids at places suspected to be selling adulterated liquor. The sale of liquor in pouches is banned. He said the Department should ensure that the small bottles of country-made liquor are available in adequate numbers at vends during the festive season. The Enforcement squads had been asked to particularly target the JJ clusters, unauthorised colonies and suspected places where there is a possibility of such liquor being sold, he added.

The Finance Minister had a long talk with the Delhi Police Commissioner, Mr. Ajai Raj Sharma, and urged him to direct his personnel to coordinate with officials of the Excise Department. All concerned officials have been asked to monitor the situation regularly and give a feedback.

The Minister said directions had been issued to the Enforcement Wing to swing into action immediately and follow the drill of carrying out intensive searches and sample lifting. It is important that samples of the country-made liquor as well as the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) are lifted and sent for scrutiny. In addition, he said checking would also be carried out at the various liquor warehouses and intensified at all the entry points of the Capital to prevent inflow of spurious liquor and its subsequent distribution. ``I must assure that all necessary measures have been put in place to prevent a fallout of the Noida tragedy. Our reoriented Excise policy and the preventive steps have ensured flow of standard liquor into the Capital,'' he added.

Soon after the news of the tragedy reached him, Mr. Saathi alerted the Excise Department. He said it had been also decided to intensify the scrutiny of new stocks and efforts are on to identify the suppliers whose liquor caused the loss of lives. The Delhi Government has a standard codification for supply of liquor and in this process small players have been eliminated thereby removing the risk element. However, if it is found that any of the manufacturers involved are supplying liquor to Delhi, they would be immediately blacklisted.

Unlike the other States, the liquor business in Delhi is run by the Government-owned corporations and there is no involvement of the private sector. In addition, a number of steps including reduction in the prices of various brands had been effected to check the incidence of smuggling from Haryana and Rajasthan. Despite these measures, a number of cases have been unearthed where government owned shops were found to be selling adulterated liquor.

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