BHUBANESWAR: Opposition Congress and BJP on Saturday targeted the State government over the hooch tragedy in May 2019 which claimed nine lives in Bhadrak district. The issue was raised in the Assembly during the question hour by Santosh Singh Saluja (Congress). Alleging that the State government’s drive to generate more money from excise by opening liquor shops has led to uncontrolled consumption leading to hooch tragedy, Saluja demanded a statement from the Excise Minister on the issue.
His party colleague Suresh Kumar Routray alleged that liquor is now available everywhere, even in paan shops. Stating that consumption of marijuana and brown sugar has also become rampant in the State, he urged the government to take urgent steps to curb this menace.
BJD MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik said that ban on liquor is not the solution as it will lead to more smuggling of spurious liquor. He advised the government to take steps to put a curb on liquor consumption. Supporting the Congress members, deputy leader of the BJP legislature party Bishnu Charan Sethi alleged that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is solely responsible for the hooch tragedy as the government ignored the social impact of liquor consumption for more revenue.
In response, Minister of State for Excise Aswini Kumar Patra said that nine persons had died in Bhadrak after consuming spurious liquor. So far 50 persons had died due to consumption of spurious liquor in the State since 2011-12, he said and added that 41 persons had died in Cuttack district due to consumption of spurious liquor in 2011-12.
Replying to a separate question from Suresh Kumar Routray, the Minister said that excise revenue of the State had increased from `5,528.4 crores in 2021-22 to `4,053.51 crores in 2020-21.