Maximum complaints for illegal liquor trade in Ggn are against mafias: RTI

The excise department of Gurgaon has received maximum number of complaints against mafias for distributing huge quantity of illegal liquor from 2014 till date.  

It appears that the Millennium City has become a suitable spot for liquor mafias. In the recent years, both the excise and taxation departments have witnessed a sharp rise in the number of cases in Gurgaon under the Excise Act. 

Sources revealed, that this increase in the distribution shows that liquor mafias have a strong supply chain in Gurgaon and the police are also worried about this easy business.

An RTI revealed that out of these, around 50 cases were registered for illegal smuggling of liquor in 2015, and 36 cases for the same in 2014 with the Excise and Taxation department. 

The number of cases may not seem to be a big problem, but the number of bottles recovered seems big. 

The RTI reveals that the district department recovered 7,107 bottles of country liquor in 2015 while 1,358 bottles were recovered in 2014. Similarly, 1,545 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) were recovered in 2014, while they jumped to 3,010 in 2015. For beer too there has been a substantial rise from 170 bottles in 2014 to 2,552 bottles in 2015.

Illicit liquor comes to Gurgaon from distilleries in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and goes to Gujarat. The excise department claims to be helpless because the liquor mafias are well connected. 

Around 144 persons were booked by the department between April 2014 and October 2015.

“We impose a penalty of Rs 50 to 500 per bottle on people who are nabbed with illegal consignment of alcohol. Then they are produced in the court. Those who do not pay the penalty initially, to them the court sends a notice,” said Aruna Singh, deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner.