Excise department conducts raids at country liquor breweries

A CORRESPONDENT

TANGLA: The Excise Department of Udalguri district has flung into action after purported government reports indicated that COVID-19 could spread from people visiting the country liquor breweries.

In one of the biggest ever excise raids conducted in suburbs of Tangla town in Udalguri district on Thursday by Excise Department officials, a number of illicit country liquor breweries were busted and a large consignment of illicit liquor was seized and destroyed. According to reports, the Excise department conducted raids at Tangla Bus stand, Pub-Jangalpara, Khoprapotti, Uriabasti, Jalukbari, 1No. Nabinpally along with a number of adjoining places of Tangla town were 410 litres of fermented wash (FW) ,115 litres of Illicitly Distilled (ID) liquor and four distillation equipment were seized and subsequently destroyed.

Sources said that illicit country liquor locally called sulai traditionally involved fermenting molasses and breaking it down to ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, and carbon dioxide at a controlled temperature. Sources added that the COVID-19 period, which had badly affected the livelihood of several sections, turned out to be a boon for illicit liquor brewers in the State as they earned quite a lot by brewing illicit country liquor through their age-old methods.

Pertinently, the Assam Excise Department earned more than Rs 69 crore as revenue in May-June of 2021, a 60 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2020.

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