KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has made it mandatory for all breweries and distilleries in the state to use only mineral water for making liquor. The directive came after the most recent hooch tragedy in Santipur claimed 12 lives. The rule will be implemented across the state from June 2019 onwards.
The investigation into the Santipur hooch tragedy, the 2011 Mograhat hooch tragedy and 2015 Moyna hooch tragedy found that contaminated water used for preparing hooch might have made it unfit for consumption.
After the Santipur tragedy, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said: “I don’t understand why people have to drink illicit liquor?” The state government then decided to give liquor licences to cooperatives in rural areas to rein in the production and sale of illicit liquor.
The state government has also asked breweries to produce high-quality beer.The directive came after an excise department report stated that the sale of beer in West Bengal, one of the top beer consuming states in the country, fell by more than half after excise duty was increased to 40 per cent since January 2018.
Sources said that brewers in the state have been lobbying with the state government to reduce excise duty to lower the cost of beer.