Ganjam Hooch Tragedy: Police & Excise Officials Intensify Raids Across Odisha

Berhampur: Couple of days after Odisha government announced a crackdown on illicit liquor trade following the Ganjam hooch tragedy, police and Excise department officials on Sunday intensified raids across the state.

Excise department busted a liquor den on Balisira hills at Aska in Ganjam district and seized 4.500 litres of fermented liquor and 100 litres of country liquor. A person was also arrested from Bira Narayanpur under K Nuagaon police limits and 80 litres of country liquor was seized from his possession while he was on his way to Ganjam on a motorcycle.

Police also raided an illegal liquor den allegedly being operated by a woman at Arakhakuda village under Krushna Prasad block in Puri and seized 4,000 litres of country liquor and fermented liquor, sources said.

This came a day after, a massive drive was conducted by the Commissionerate Police against illicit liquor trade at Salia Sahi under Maitrivihar police limits in Bhubaneswar. While four houses, where liquor was being manufactured illegally, were bulldozed, 11,500 litres of illicit distilled liquor and 50,000 litres of pocha (fermented rice) were also destroyed during this ‘Safe City’ drive.

On Saturday, police also unearthed an illegally-run country liquor unit inside kewda plantation at Indrakhi village in Ganjam district and destroyed around 1,000 litres of  ‘mahua pocha’. Another 55 barrels, containing 200 litres of pocha each, were also destroyed at an unit inside S Badlapur forest under Tumba police limits.

Meanwhile, the number of arrests in the hooch tragedy at Chikiti, which claimed two lives, has touched eight, with one Rajendra Sahu being nabbed near Pitatali on Saturday.

Earlier, seven people, including a woman, were arrested, However, others involved in manufacturing of the hooch and trade are still at large.

Police suspect a link between illicit liquor supplied to rural areas in Andhra Pradesh and the tragedy in Ganjam, and the traders are now believed to be hiding in the neighbouring state.

On Friday, Excise Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan told the Assembly that all illegal liquor shops that had come up during the previous BJD regime will be razed while asserting a crack down on illicit liquor production and trade amid Opposition demand for his resignation over the hooch tragedy.