Balasore: Illegal sale of foreign liquor is flourishing in this town and on its outskirts thanks to the excise department officials turning a blind eye to this trade. It is a well known fact that officials of the excise department work in collusion with the liquor traders.
A few days ago the picture of an illegal liquor trader of Mitrapur area had gone viral. In the picture, the person was seen pouring foreign liquor from a vessel into bottles sitting inside a house. Excise department officials after coming to know of the picture raided the house of the man and seized a large number of spurious liquor bottles. However he was let off lightly and not arrested. Instead one of his associates was put behind bars.
In another incident officials carried out a raid February 15 in a bar at Cinema Chowk at about 10.00pm. They found gross irregularities – the most important being that it had more bottles than it had procured from the Odisha State Beverages Corporation. In this case also the excise officials did not take any strict action against the owner of the bar.
Bibekananda Nayak, the superintendent of the excise office here however said that the bar had all the necessary documents.
Spurious liquor is now available at roadside dhabas, hotels without license to sell liquor and even at betel shops in rural areas. Also some wine shops are selling it in bottle with labels of reputed companies.
Senior residents of the town have urged the District Collector to intervene and take exemplary steps against the liquor mafias. “If it is not done a tragedy is on the cards where people will die after consuming spurious liquor,” they said.
PNN
