‘Crores spent, but TN govt failed to curb illicit arrack’

CHENNAI: In spite of several crores of rupees being spent to eradicate illicit arrack, the death toll due to its consumption keep increasing, as the state is not spending the fund properly, said the petitioners before the Madras High Court seeking to transfer the investigation of Kallakurichi hooch tragedy to CBI.

The first division bench of acting Chief Justice D Krishnakumar and Justice PB Balaji heard the batch of petitions seeking the transfer of investigation from the state agency.

Advocate GS Mani appearing for petitioners A Sridharan, former AIADMK MLA and BJP advocate Mohandas submitted that without the assistance of police, local administration and politicians, such a huge quantity of illicit liquor couldn’t be manufactured and sold.

However, the state is trying to hide this fact, hence we sought a fair investigation under CBI, submitted the advocate. The advocate also referred the policy note of Excise and Prohibition Department for the year 2023-2024 and submitted that Rs 4 crore allocated for awareness against the illicit liquor. The advocate also said that Rs 5 crore was spent for preventive measures and Rs 9.20 crore was spend to prevent the sales of the illicit liquor.

Despite the huge amount spent to eradicate illicit liquor, the tragedy of losing lives continues, said the advocate. This shows the state’s failure in eradicating illicit liquor, added the advocate. After his submission, the bench posted the matter to August 30 for state’s submission.