After the recent incidents of deaths at Yamunanagar and Ambala district due to spurious liquor, Haryana state government has declared alert against the sale of spurious liquor in the state. Deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala ordered special teams to crack down on the illefgal manufacturing, rebottling and supply of liquor business in the state and to form special teams to crack down on the counterfeit liquor business in the state. On information Its how traders buy used, high-end liquor bottles from scrap dealers, fill them with cheap whisky, slap on new labels and caps, seal them and sell them to vendors, shops and even bars.
After the report published in newspapers, Chautala, who is also the state excise and taxation ministe rmedia persons said that the state government will work to stamp down on the sale of fake liquor in the state.He also warned action will also be taken against liquor companies if such liquor is found in shops. He said, it is also the responsibility of the brands to keep a check on their sales, and they should collect samples for testing. Brands are liable to check the dispatch of their consignment, hologram and batch number mentioned on the liquor, and If there are irregularities inform police as well as the excise department in the district.
Information revealed that a large number of such cases came at Gurugram and Faridabad. Gurugram deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said the state government’s order will be implemented immediately. Meanwhile, the Gurugram and Faridabad excise departments swung into action and began checks at outlets and liquor shops. Inspectors combed through liquor stores and bars to ensure bottles bore holograms and batch numbers and if the labels wear those assigned by the excise department,” said Yadav. According to information, the illicit business has rumbled on unchecked for years in the state with little action by the police and excise officers so far. After the incident of recent deaths of about 22 persons in Yamunmanagar and Ambala district due to spurious liquor illegally manufactured in a closed factory at a lonely place under Mullana police station in Ambala district police started raids at the liquor suppliers all over in the state and recovered thousands of spurious liquor bottles within a short span of few days only
.According to police reports from Karnal, Kurukshetra, Hansi, Kaithal, Jind and Bahadurgarh districts, 43 persons were arrested from whom 458 bottles of illicit liquor were recovered during raids in Karnal. Similarly ,10 persons were arrested while selling spurious liquor at Hansi. Kurukshetra police recovered 212 bottles spurious liquor from 26 persons arrested by the police and cases were registered against them. In Kaithal district during raids police arrested 31 persons while selling 354 bottles of illicit liquor along with 1250 liter ‘Lahan’ used to manufacture spurious liquor. Police at Jind during 22 raids at different places arrested 22 persons selling spurious liquor from whom 234 bottles liquor along with 250 liter ‘Lahan’ was recovered. On a secret information Bahadurgarh police recovered a huge quantity of spurious liquor bottles during raid at a general merchant shop.
The deputy CM Dushyant Chautala while talking to media persons said, efforts are being made to identify a third party to conduct these lab tests to ascertain if the alcohol packed in branded bottles is genuine or not, since the reports of tests conducted by the companies mostly found nothing spurious. We will have to get them cross-checked. We will also collecting cases of liquor to check if spurious bottles are mixed in the cases, said Chautala that in a bid to stop this illicit business, staff will be deployed to crush the bottles If empty bottles of premium liquor are sold in the market and strict action will be taken against the seller and official for negligence. According to police information, they will keep a check on scrap shops and an awareness drive will also be launched in the state so that no scrap dealer or ragpicker will sell empty branded liquor bottles to anyone who can reuse them, stern action will be taken against ragpickers and scrap dealers if they are found selling the premium brand liquor bottles.
