Morena
Hooch Tragedy: More spurious liquor sized in the agricultural land
It
seems that the death of 21 people (still counting) is only the tip of the
iceberg in a “spurious liquor case” in Morena, Madhya Pradesh. Initially, it
was assumed that the procurement and supply of the spurious or duplicate liquor
are confined to two villages under the name of Manipur Prithwi and Pahawali.
A
dramatic turnaround that unfolded the mystery of an organized “Boardwalk Empire”
Yesterday,
the search operations of the police met with a dramatic turnaround when a resident,
a teenage boy came out and helped the police in seizing illegal chemicals,
counterfeit bottles and duplicate stamps of many popular Indian Made Foreign
Liquor ( IMFL) brands, hidden in the agricultural
fields adjoining to both the villages. The quantum of materials like “raw alcohol”
“empty bottles of popular liquor brands” and “forged stickers” is alarmingly
high. It certainly indicates a well-organized racquet working for the
procurement and distribution of country-made liquor at a cheaper rate.
The
next move of the opposition party on the issue is well anticipated
Opposition
party Congress is looking at Morena Hooch Tragedy as an opportunity to expose the
illegal liquor trade in the state. During previous By-Elections, former Chief
Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamalnath raised the issue of the existence of “parallel
liquor Mafia” in the state. This issue was raised to an extent when it became a
key point of their election campaign. Now the main opposition party in Madhya
Pradesh, is all set to connect “Morena Hooch Tragedy” with “Ujjain Hooch Tragedy,”
it is expected that the Congress party will make some aggressive moves to raise
this issue in the coming days.
Many
experts in the field of administration are connecting this organized syndicate
of “country-made liquor” with the ongoing taxation policies of the government.
According to them a high variance of price in comparison with the neighboring states
is prompting local vendors to procure and sell country-made liquor on the
pretext that they are “pure but selling smuggled
liquor”.
