Hooch tragedy: Amarinder Singh says guilty won't be spared; relief up to Rs 5 lakh

TARN TARAN: Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who visited Tarn Taran on Friday to meet the families hit by the "man-made" hooch tragedy , promised to take stern action against the person involved in brewing and selling of illicit liquor.


Addressing the affected families, Amarinder Singh announced enhancement of compensation for the kin of the hooch tragedy victims from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and assured government help in providing jobs, education and other social security benefits to the victims.

He said those who had lost their sight after drinking spurious liquor would get financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh. The CM handed over a cheque of Rs 2.92 crore for the 92 victim families of Tarn Taran to the deputy commissioner.

The deaths of over 120 people in the border districts of Amritsar , Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur after drinking spurious illicit liquor had raised a political storm in the state. The CM told mediapersons that the opposition parties were playing politics over the tragedy.

Amarinder, who before 2017 assembly elections had announced that he would "break the back of drug mafia within four weeks of coming to power", reiterated three years later that he would not spare anyone, no matter how affluent he might be, for the hooch deaths, which he termed a man-made tragedy.

Special prosecution teams to vigorously pursue cases: CM

Investigations are underway in this case and Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta has been directed to further expedite these," he said, adding that special prosecution teams would be deputed to vigorously pursue these cases to provide exemplary punishment to the guilty.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar, who had accompanied the chief minister, lambasted the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance for allegedly nurturing the liquor mafia which ultimately led to the tragedy of such magnitude. However, he admitted that the tragedy was an outcome of criminal negligence and merits exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of this crime.