Kerala - Kollam   

No judicial probe: Minister

KOLLAM: Excise Minister P.K. Gurudasan has rejected the demand for a judicial probe into the Avaneeshwaram liquor tragedy in which two persons were killed and several others hospitalised.

The demand for the judicial probe was raised by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala during his visit to Avaneeshwaran on Wednesday.

Talking to The Hindu here on Wednesday, Mr. Gurudasan said Kollam Superintendent of Police (SP) M.R. Ajith Kumar had been asked to conduct a detailed investigation into the incident. The SP will submit the report in this connection on Thursday.

Whether the State Government will have to take any further action in connection with the development will depend on the report. But there is no need for a judicial probe, the Minister said.

Mr. Gurudasan said that medical reports available so far showed that methyl alcohol was not the cause of the deaths. Detailed medical examinations are being conducted.

It is also being probed whether samples collected from the toddy shop and sent for chemical examination were from the same stock served to the victims, he said.

Mr. Gurudasan said investigations into the incident were progressing in the right direction. He said disciplinary action was being initiated wherever necessary.

Staff Reporter writes from Kochi:

The former Excise Minister K.V. Thomas said here on Wednesday that Excise Minister P.K. Gurudasan should be made the first accused in the Avaneeshwaram hooch tragedy.

The Minister had prior knowledge that such an incident would happen, as he was a trade union leader from the sector. A large amount of illicit hooch had reached the State during the Onam season, he said. The Avaneeshawaram incident should be viewed as the first in the series of similar tragedies waiting to strike the State, he warned.

Mr. Thomas said that the liquor tragedy was the creation of the liquor policies of the LDF Government. The Government had opened nearly 2,000 toddy shops that were closed down by the previous Government. Though most of the shops had allotted to workers’ cooperatives and such organisations, in reality they were run by the abkari mafia, Prof. Thomas said.

Many foreign liquor shops were allowed to function in violation of the laws regarding the distance of shops from educational institutions and places of worship.

Prof. Thomas alleged that the CPI (M) was earning huge revenue from the abkari sector.

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