Hooch tragedies: 176 deaths in 5 years in Punjab but no lessons learnt

Hindustan Times

14-05-2025

Since 2020, Punjab has witnessed the deaths of over 170 individuals due to spurious liquor but it seems no lessons have been learnt by the authorities.
On Tuesday, at least 21 people, mostly daily wagers, died and 10 others were hospitalised after allegedly drinking spurious liquor in Majitha.
Ten people, including the alleged kingpin, were arrested while deputy superintendent of police (Majitha) Amolak Singh and station house officer of Majitha police station Avtar Singh were suspended for negligence.
A year ago, 20 people lost their lives in a hooch tragedy in Sangrur. Here too the spurious liquor was made using methanol as a base and was manufactured locally.
Over the years, various probes and findings suggested course corrections but most of the reports have been consigned to the dustbin with the state administration only getting active after a tragedy.
In this case, a fact-finding team comprising local officers conducted a probe and submitted a report to the government through the deputy commissioner.
The probe committee, headed by the Dirba sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) with the deputy superintendent of police (DSP), station house officer (SHO), senior medical officer and an excise and taxation officer as its members, had studied the reason behind thriving illegal liquor business in the state.
It had recommended the creation of a separate 'wing' in the Punjab Police focused on curbing the manufacture and sale of illicit liquor. As per the report, this wing would be dedicated to tracking bootlegging, especially in the border districts adjoining Haryana state, the report had said.
However, these recommendations were neither discussed nor implemented.
'It was also recommended that excise department officials play a more proactive role as illegal hooch is not only a threat to people's lives but is also causing huge losses to the state exchequer. It affects the sale of country-made liquor in wine shops. I don't think that report was ever discussed anywhere,' an officer of this committee told HT on the condition of anonymity.
A Punjab Police SIT, led by then ADGP (law and order) Gurinder Singh Dhillon, which probed the criminal angle in the case, had also suggested making local SHOs and DSPs responsible for the sale and manufacturing of illegal liquor.
'I could not complete the probe as I had opted to take voluntary retirement. But our SIT had suggested fixing the responsibility of the local SHO and his superior DSP. It is such a deep-rooted nexus that it is not possible that local police weren't aware of the sale of such liquor. In that probe, we had also found the need to have local law officers monitoring the sale of methanol,' said the former ADGP, who after his retirement had joined the Congress.
In August 2020, during the Corona epidemic, when liquor vends were closed, Punjab faced yet another hooch tragedy, this time in the districts of Tarn Taran, Amritsar, and Batala. More than 135 people were reported dead.
The incident sparked protests and renewed demands for more decisive action against those involved in the illicit alcohol trade.
Interestingly, the police probe into this hooch tragedy, which was one of the worst in the country, had found an organised gang running this network. Then DGP Dinkar Gupta pushed for having Punjab Control of Organised Crime Act (PCOCA) like stringent laws to deal with such cases.
However, after an initial push by then CM Capt Amarinder Singh-led state government, the introduction of the strict law as put on the backburner.
'Interestingly, in all major hooch tragedies, the use of methyl alcohol (methanol) was the reason behind the deaths. However, no regulation of law has come in place in Punjab,' a retired excise official said, pleading anonymity.
Spurious liquor menace
2020
Over 135 people killed in Amritsar, Gurdaspur with Tarn Taran reporting 95
2024:
20 people died in Sangrur
2025:
21 dead in Majitha region of Amritsar district