Home minister to take action against misleading officials

In Haryana assembly raised the issue surrounding spurious liquor and several death occurred by it. Home Minister Anil Vij said a total of 3 persons in district Sonipat and 1 person in district Panipat died on November 22, 2022 due to consumption of spurious liquor. 30 people died in the various districts of the State in 2020. Making it total 36 deaths in different districts from the year 2016 to 2022 (till date) in the State, according to the police reports. 

Abhay Singh Chautala, a legislator raised finger in the session over the information provided by the police department said that the data tabled in the assembly and made available to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) differ from each other. . He further said that the statistics depicted that as many as 489 people lost their lives due to the consumption of spurious alcohol. 

Home Minister said that he will conduct an investigation into the issue and that the irresponsible officials who provided misleading statistics will face severe consequences. He further added that Haryana is conducting regular checking of liquor vends to ensure that there is no illegal sale of liquor. The district staff has also been directed to ensure that CCTV Cameras are installed in all wholesale licensed premises in the district and the live feed is available to the DETC (Excise), to further curb any illegal sale of liquor. The provisions of the Haryana Excise Act, 1914 have been amended to counter the illegal and spurious liquor. The provisions of section 61 have been made more stringent. 

One of the senior police officials clarified that the state police department has merged the data of deaths caused due to excessive use of alcohol with the deaths caused due to consumption of spurious alcohol.