Within two weeks of a spurious liquor tragedy that took the lives of over 100 people in adjoining districts of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday a similar disaster was reported from Assam, where the death toll has crossed 150 and is still rising, with hundreds reportedly hospitalised. Most of the victims are tea workers from Golaghat and Jorhat. There have been several arrests and a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor vends; the excise department claims to have destroyed over 15,000 litres of illicit liquor. But the salient question is why police allowed such widespread illegality in the first place.
Consumption of sulai, a molasses based liquor, is a tradition in Assam. It is adulteration with dry cell batteries, methanol, etc – intended to make the liquor more potent – that turns it lethal. When hooch deaths are reported, including from dry states like Bihar and Gujarat, the racket often turns out to be engineered by history sheeters. In the latest case too, there are charges that enforcement agencies turned a blind eye to what was going on, in exchange for ‘hafta’. This toxic ecosystem is the byproduct of restrictive and high tax regimes, which push lawful liquor beyond the buying capacity of the poor.
Amidst a tumultuous debate in the state assembly, a demand has been raised for prohibition. Nothing could be more wrong headed. If there is already police collusion with illegal practices prohibition will only worsen it, as has been seen in Bihar. This is a law and order problem. Treating it with moral medicine will make it worse. It is criminal adulteration that causes mass hooch deaths – not legal, affordable, wholesome liquor. The need of the hour is cracking down on crime and corruption.