Toxic liquor: Excise dept, police to be blamed for deaths

Secretary Sindh Excise and Taxation department has accepted responsibility for deaths by consumption of toxic liquor

SUKKUR:

The secretary of Sindh Excise and Taxation department, Abdul Majeed Pathan, has accepted responsibility for the deaths that occurred all over Sindh after the victims consumed toxic liquor.

He said that the excise department and police were responsible for the deaths, and he accepted it on their behalf.

While talking to the media at Circuit House, Sukkur, on Wednesday, he said that after the incident, the excise department had jumped into action and had raided several wine shops and other places throughout the province. He added that they had recovered 40,000 litres of moonshine and had arrested more than 100 suspects from Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Larkana. Cases have been registered against them under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to Pathan, the licences issued to sell spirits had been cancelled throughout the province. He said that around 30 to 40 people had died in Sindh by consuming toxic liquor. He added that two directors, three excise and taxation officers, many inspectors and officials were suspended and action was being taken against them.

The secretary claimed that his department had been given a target of Rs32 billion to recover and so far they had recovered Rs35 billion. He said that it was tragic so many people died after consuming toxic liquor over Eid but since then strict measures had been taken and no incidents happened over Diwali.

On the road

Pathan said that an extensive campaign against unregistered vehicles will also be launched after Ashura. He added that they were in the process of computerising motor vehicle registration and property tax record. After this, he said, people will have to use a master card instead of a registration book. He added that a survey will be carried out with help of the World Bank to identify those who were not paying their property tax.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2014.