Bhubaneswar: Continuing the crackdown on illicit liquor, Odisha Excise sleuths on Monday raided Salia Shai, considered to a den of such activities, in Bhubaneswar and seized a large quantity of illegally manufactured country liquor.
According to sources, country liquor and pocha (fermented rice) were confiscated and destroyed. Raw material used for manufacturing country liquor were also seized.
This came two days after Commissionerate Police bulldozed four houses, where liquor was being manufactured illegally, and sized 11,500 litres of illicit distilled liquor and 50,000 litres of pocha at the slum during a ‘Safe City’ drive.
Raids were intensified across the state following the hooch tragedy in Ganjam’s Chikiti, which claimed two lives while 13 others, including seven in critical condition, are still in the ICU at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur after consuming spurious liquor.
On Sunday, police and Excise departments destructed 4,500 litre of fermented wash and 100 litre of country liquor near Balisira under Aska block in Ganjam districts. A youth was apprehended in Bira Narayanpur with 80 litre of country liquor, and another 4,000 litre of hooch was seized dueing a raid at Arakhakuda village under Krushna Prasad block in Puri.
In Kendrapara too, Excise officials dismantled two illegal country liquor manufacturing units and arrested five persons, including two women for allegedly producing and selling illicit liquor.
The action came after strict directions from Excise Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan, who assured the Assembly of stringent measures including razing of illegal units which have come up during the previous BJD regime.