Hooch tragedy: A man-made disaster

Dr. Dharmakanta Kumbhakar

(The author can be reached at drkdharmakanta@yahoo.com)

The latest hooch tragedy in Golaghat and Jorhat districts of Assam turned out to be a man-made disaster in the State that claimed over 150 lives. It created an extraordinary situation with chaos everywhere in both the districts. The tragedy occurred after a large number of people consumed spurious country liquor in several tea estates in both the districts.

Majority of the victims of poisoning were tea plantation workers. It was an absolute failure on the part of the State Excise Department as the incident came in less than two weeks after more than 100 people died in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand from drinking country-made alcohol. The excise staff of Golaghat and Jorhat districts ignored the alert that the excise commissionerate had sent on February 9, 2019 to all the districts of Assam after the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand hooch tragedy.

It is more than apparent that the Government and its various agencies through their acts of omission and commission had prepared the grounds for a disaster of this magnitude to occur. Of course this was not the first hooch tragedy in Assam. Several such instances were reported earlier but not of such magnitude. Last year too, such a hooch tragedy claimed at least seven lives in Golaghat districts. In fact, over the years, hooch has taken hundreds of precious human lives in the tea gardens of Assam. There are regular cases of death among the tea gardens community in Assam due to continued consumption of spurious liquor, but most of such deaths are ignored and the authorities concerned are not taking a hard stand on it.

Assam has more than 800 tea gardens and the consumption of alcohol is a common practice among the tea plantation workers. In Assam, both India Made foreign liquor (IMFL) and country liquor are available. The country liquor may be traditional liquors (such as Tea tribe’s haria, Bodo’s sai, Dimasa’s judima, etc) which are made from rice but they are not licensed. Some other country liquors are now available in Assam have been branded under licence. But still, although illegal, certain people manufacture sulai and sell in private retail units without licence. Sulai is a rectified spirit brewed from fermented molasses or occasionally rice which has a strong pungent odour with higher alcohol content than the traditionally prepared rice beer. It costs generally from Rs 15-25 per 250 ml. Moreover, it is very much available with plastic pouch being sold for Rs 10-30. As tea plantation workers are very poor, they are unable to buy the costly IMFL brand.

Therefore, they opt for cheaper and readily available illegal sulai.

Traditional liquors are usually safe. Consumption of properly prepared traditional liquors from rice by the indigenous people of Assam cannot turn into such a tragedy. It can occur from consumption of spurious liquor. The latest hooch tragedy in Golaghat and Jorhat districts was due to consumption of such spurious sulai. Initially it was suspected that the sulai became spurious either due to unhygienic preparation from laligur (liquid jaggery), contamination with pesticide or adulteration with footwear, battery carbon, urea, drugs and dry tobacco leaves by the brewers to make the brewing process faster and increase the potency of the sulai.

Now, it is almost confirmed that cheap but poisonous methyl alcohol (methanol) was added as adulterant in the spurious sulai though the forensic report of the hooch is not yet public. Methanol is only meant to be used for industrial purposes as a solvent and antifreeze. Upon consumption, methanol gets metabolized into formaldehyde and formic acid which are very toxic to every organ, especially the optic nerve to cause blindness. In this hooch tragedy, nine persons have lost their eyesight till date and several others are under treatment for eyesight loss. Consumption of methanol can cause severe metabolic acidosis, renal failure, etc. A dose of 30 ml of methanol is fatal for human beings.

There could be another possibility also. The sulai might not be directly responsible for the tragedy. There is every possibility that it was spirit mixed with water sold as sulai to increase its kick. As per reports, in dying statements, several victims spoke about consuming spirit mixed with water. Preparing it is more profitable as it involves ‘less effort, more money’. While generally the spirit is ethanol in the alcoholic drinks but this time, methanol might have been mixed with water that caused the hooch tragedy. Mixing of methanol with drinks is illegal and punishable.

All these happened under the very nose of the State Excise Department, the police and the district administrators. They were all mute spectators to what was happening around them. The authority must nab the culprits responsible for this tragedy. There have been indications to suspect that the tragedy is related to the abolition of the previous ‘mahal’ system for selling country liquor particularly among the tea plantation workers and the introduction of the new system under the amended Assam Excise Act and the Assam Excise Rules. The illegal practice of manufacturing illicit sulai and selling in private retail units are still open in Assam. There has been a mushrooming growth of the dens selling illicit country liquor all over Assam and it is impossible for such illegal practices to thrive without the tacit patronage of the police, administration and the excise authorities. It seems that the authorities concerned have surrendered to those running these rackets of illicit liquor. Indeed, the recurring incidents of hooch tragedy year after year in Assam corroborate that there is more than what meets the eyes. The authorities concerned are still inert though such hooch tragedies in Assam have assumed the form of a routine phenomenon. There must be a sustained crackdown on the perpetrators of this nefarious trade to address the issue.

There are many tea tribe organizations in Assam. But, such organizations never raise their voice against the illegal brewing and selling of sulai in their areas, nor do they carry out any awareness drive against this malpractice. They never demand the demolition of the illegal sulai breweries that have been doing a roaring business in the tea garden areas of Assam. An outright ban on alcohol shall not work and people who drink shall find a way to do so. The people must leave the habit of consumption of spurious liquor. They may be provided with the government-approved new country liquor, with the grain-based extra neutral alcohol, at cheaper rates than IMFL through retail outlets. There are nine such factories that manufacture this new country liquor and products are going out through 200 licenced retail outlets. When these outlets are doing well in Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Lakhimpur, etc., why not in other districts? It seems that some people of vested interests have been preventing the sale of this liquor, and directly or indirectly encouraging manufacture and sale of spurious sulai.

The law enforcement apart, as most of the victims of such hooch tragedies are poor and illiterate people, there is needed to enhance public awareness on the dangers of consuming hooch. We need to put in a joint effort against illicit liquor in Assam to prevent such hooch tragedies in future.