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Illicit liquor shops set ablaze

KOLKATA: Illicit liquor dens were set on fire on Tuesday by irate residents of the Maheshtala area in South 24 Parganas district as word spread that six persons had died of poisoning after consuming illicit liquor there over the past two days.

The State government is inquiring into the deaths that come three weeks after 28 persons had died after consuming illicit liquor in the Kidderpore area of the city.

Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said that though the police had so far confirmed the death of two persons in the area — both from causes unrelated to liquor poisoning — the excise department has been asked to probe into the incident and submit a separate report.

Roadblocks were set up in Maheshtala by residents in protest against what they described as the mushrooming of illicit liquor dens in the area. Traffic was disrupted for a while.

The crackdown against illicit liquor dens is continuing in the city and the districts and the government is considering alternative financial rehabilitation for those engaged in the sale of such liquor, Mr. Dasgupta added.

Changes in the State’s excise policy are being worked out and were discussed at a meeting of the Assembly’s standing committee on Finance, Excise and Planning.

Leader of the Opposition and senior Trinamool Congress leader Partha Chatterjee alleged that a section of the police under instructions from some politicians was turning a blind eye to the sale of illicit liquor in the area.

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