BANGALORE: The Government may soon amend the law to place the burden of proof on the accused in cases of illicit liquor trade, in the wake of the recent deaths of people who drank spurious liquor, the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, said in the Legislative Council on Thursday.

He said during question hour that the Government's initiatives in the past year have achieved what was "virtually impossible" in the past three decades — it took only two excise auctions to fetch a revenue of Rs. 900 crores. The message has gone to those engaged in illicit trade that the Government has the political will to set the system right, plug the loopholes and make it difficult to violate the rules, he added.

Mr. Siddaramaiah said it is time to change the policy of paying compensation to the families of victims of hooch tragedies. "Relatives of people who died of liver disease have put in claims for compensation, and they were not from the places where the spurious liquor claimed several lives," he said.

He told Aravind Limbavali, `Mukhyamantri' Chandru (Bharatiya Janata Party), D. Made Gowda and Marithibbe Gowda (Congress) that 1,055 cases of production and trade in illicit liquor were detected during 2004-05.

46 lives lost

The hooch tragedy in Sakleshpur and Channarayapatna in Hassan district claimed 15 lives, and that in Nelamangala taluk of Bangalore Rural district 23 lives. Eight persons died after drinking spurious liquor in other places. Mr. Siddaramaiah said that after the deaths, he made deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and excise officials in the districts jointly responsible for preventing such incidents. There is a need to swoop down on those engaged in the trade as, invariably, they get away scot-free while officials end up being penalised for failing to do their duty.

Following those measures, traders and contractors have become more conscientious in participating in auctions instead of paying bribes and engaging in spurious-liquor trade. Sale of liquor has increased, and the revenue has gone up by over 100 per cent, he said.

Giving details of compensation paid to the families of victims, he said Rs. 21 lakhs has been disbursed at Rs. 1 lakh a family. The families of victims in the Hassan incident will be paid shortly. He said the spurious liquor sold to the victims was mixed with methyl alcohol and other poisonous substances. Action has been initiated against 11 officials of the Excise Department. The Government has constituted the Justice A.J. Sadashiva Commission of Inquiry to probe the cases, he added.

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