The death of 17 persons over the past few days, in two incidents in north Tamil Nadu, after consuming spurious liquor comes a month after the State government informed the Assembly that there has been no hooch tragedy for the last 14 years. As on Monday evening, 12 persons of Villupuram district and five of Chengalpattu district have died, while 50 people have been hospitalised. The development is surprising as Union Ministry of Home Affairs and National Crime Records Bureau data (2016-21) show that illicit or spurious liquor deaths have been largely contained. According to the central authorities, Tamil Nadu reported no deaths during 2016 to 2019; 20 in 2020 and six in 2021. Besides, the State has safeguards to prevent such tragedies. Since 2002, methanol, regarded as the main reason behind hooch tragedies, has been brought under the ambit of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937. Amendments have also been made to the Tamil Nadu Denatured Spirit, Methyl Alcohol and Varnish (French Polish) Rules, 1959, to maintain control over methanol supply. What is disturbing is that the two recent instances point to the apparent use of methanol.
While the government is expected to probe the causative factors, it is obvious that there are administrative lapses. The availability of cheaper brew than what is sold at retail outlets of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (Tasmac) is disconcerting. This could have been tackled had law-enforcing authorities, including the police, monitored the movement of methanol. It is no surprise that several police officials have been placed under suspension. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who visited the two districts on Monday, also announced a Crime Branch-CID probe. Apart from announcing a solatium of ₹10 lakh to every family of the deceased and ₹50,000 to each of those undergoing treatment, the Chief Minister has not provided any scope for debate whether the families concerned should get financial assistance. Perhaps, he has gone by the example set by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who announced last month, subsequent to the many deaths in East Champaran district, the payment of ₹4 lakh each to family members of those who had died in hooch incidents since 2016. Till then, Mr. Kumar had held the position against providing any compensation. Such a stand was in vogue once in Tamil Nadu, as administrators were of the view that financial assistance could encourage those on the wrong path. It is time States evolved a uniform and comprehensive policy to counter the problem of spurious or illicit liquor, apart from sending a strong message to the law-enforcement agencies that there would be zero tolerance to illicit liquor.
