Tamil Nadu must end illicit liquor menace
The death of 18 people in Tamil Nadu after they consumed illicit liquor containing methanol is an indictment of law enforcement in the state. Only recently, Chief Minister M K Stalin mentioned that there had been no deaths due to illicit liquor in Tamil Nadu in nearly 15 years. Indeed, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that Tamil Nadu recorded no deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor in 2016–19 before recording 20 deaths in 2020 and six in 2021. While deaths after the consumption of hooch are considered common in states where prohibition is in force, such deaths reported in Tamil Nadu, where government-run retail outlets are common and liquor is easily accessible, is shocking.
The notion of the government controlling the sale of liquor is that it also controls the consumption of a hazardous substance. This is done by restricting the times when liquor is available and at what cost—TN raised prices last year through a hike in excise duty. (This is aside from liquor being a major source of revenue for the government).
However, such restrictions only work when supported by effective law enforcement that prevents the production and distribution of illicit or spurious liquor. In the present incident affecting people in two districts that police said were linked by a common supplier, industrial spirit with toxic methanol was found to have been sold to the people at throwaway prices. Following the deaths, police have started a crackdown on illicit liquor. Yet, affected villagers pointed out that the sale of hooch was an open secret and asked why the police had not cracked down on the vendors before the tragedy. It is a valid question, and the speedy action against several police personnel in the past two days may hint at the answer.
However, the responsibility for such avoidable deaths does not lie only at the feet of local cops, and the action against those complicit should not end with them. The current crackdown should not be an eyewash; rather, the government should muster the political will to use the opportunity and end the menace of spurious liquor in the state.