Excise dept starts fresh drive against illicit liquor

LUCKNOW : Expecting the liquor demand to peak ahead of the new year, the excise department has started a fresh drive against illicit liquor. This time the officials have also decided to take the help of village chowkidars (guards) and lekhpals to alert them about the network of liquor mafia.

“We have alerted the field staff to collect information from village chowkidars and lekhpals about those who run and manage the illicit liquor network,” said additional chief secretary, excise, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy.

He said meetings had been conducted in various districts under district magistrates with the excise department and the licensees of the liquor shops.

“In these meetings, the licensees were explained the various strict provisions regarding consumption or sale of poisonous or illicit liquor. We have told those who manage authorised liquor vends to run the business strictly as per rules,” he added.

The excise department had also started random sampling of liquor from authorised vends to check if they were selling genuine liquor.

The drive against illicit liquor that started from December 24 ahead of Christmas has now been further intensified and would continue till January 2, Bhoosreddy said.

The official said in the previous week, a campaign against illicit liquor led to 1395 cases being registered against liquor mafia across the state.

“Nearly 472 persons, involved in various illegal acts of storing, manufacturing or selling illicit liquor, have been arrested. Joint teams of police and excise also recovered 38,802 litres of illicit liquor,” Bhoosreddy said.

The official said 14 vehicles used to transport illicit liquor had also been seized.

He said the on a tip-off from the intelligence wing of the excise department, the excise headquarters conducted joint operations with the help of district staff of Lakhimpur Kheri.

The operations conducted under the police stations of Fardhan and Dhaurahra resulted in 170 litres of illicit liquor being seized along with three vehicles.

“Similarly, at a road checking in Shamli district, 850 cases of illegal foreign liquor being transported in a truck to Arunachal Pradesh were seized and an FIR was registered at Jhinjhana police station. One person has been arrested. We plan to crack the entire network of liquor mafia in the state,” Bhoosreddy said.