Ahead Of Odisha Panchayat Polls, Liquor & Contraband Worth Rs 10.5 Cr Seized In A Month [Watch]

Bhubaneswar: Liquor, contraband and other illegal substances worth about Rs 10.5 crore were seized in barely a month’s time after the intelligence wing of the state Excise Department launched a special drive to prevent excise-related crimes and offences to ensure free and fair Panchayat elections in Odisha.

The special enforcement drive in the wake of polls was launched on January 1, 2022.

Sources in the department informed that the drive would continue till the completion of the election process.

Special squads have been formed for enforcement work and patrolling duty round-the-clock. “We have divided the state into three divisions, each containing 10 districts for the enforcement work. Each intelligence team will look after enforcement in their respective division. For overall enforcement work in the entire state, the State Flying Squad will be responsible. At the Zilla level, multi-disciplinary squads—comprising sleuths of Excise, Police and Forest departments, Executive Magistrates and Revenue officers—will carry out round-the-clock monitoring. The teams have already been deployed to the districts,” said Excise Superintendent, State Flying Squad, Debashish Patel.

Though the enforcement work is in full swing, no abnormal trend has been observed so far as per the officer. “We are also regularly monitoring the sales of the wholesale dealers and retailers and Odisha State Beverage Corporation,” added Patel.

On January 29, principal secretary, Excise Department, Sushil Kumar Lohani had directed the enforcement agencies to check border points, conduct night patrolling and frequent raids on the illegal manufacturing, distribution and sale points of the ID, duplicate, spurious and non-duty paid liquors. Control rooms were then set up in every district.

Between January 1 and 28, 3,143 cases were detected. A total of 2597 persons have been arrested under various sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS), 1985, 90,688 litres of ID liquor and 8,18,150 litres of ID wash (base raw material for manufacturing country liquor), besides other contraband, seized.

Requesting anonymity, an official from the department said in the previous years, there had been instances of ‘abnormal’ consumption of liquor during the polls. “During the poll time, duplicate liquor is also in circulation, leading to hooch tragedies. For fair conduct of polls, strict enforcement is necessary as liquor is distributed among people,” he added.

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