Gandhinagar: Prohibitory laws in Gujarat
appear to have failed to deter people from consuming liquor
going by the large number of seizes made in Ahmedabad alone
over the last eight months.
Minister of State for Home Amit Shah informed the state
Assembly today that over 15,000 litres of country made liquor
was seized from different areas of Ahmedabad following crack
down after the hooch tragedy which claimed 158 lives in July
last year.
Gujarat is the only state in the country which practises
prohibition and trading in liquor and its consumption is
prohibited by law.
In a written reply to a query raised by Congress MLA
Ishwar Vahia, Shah said police had conducted 54,353 raids in
the city and 15,424 litres of country made liquor and 21,355
bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) were seized.
Besides, 21,000 litres of Methanol, the substance
responsible for the death of 158 people, was also seized.
Around 1,808 cases were registered in different police
stations in this regard and 2,286 persons arrested under the
Bombay Prohibition Act, he said.
Hooch tragedy had rocked Ahmedabad in July 2009 following
which the state government amended the Prohibition Act and
provided for death sentence for those found trading in country
made liquor.
PTI
