The deadly 'cocktail' behind unending cycle of hooch tragedies in Tamil Nadu

File: Health officials interact with locals after the liquor tragedy, in Kallakurichi, Tamil Nadu (PTI)

A government that is keen to increase revenue from liquor sales through raised prices and marketing control. Lower level political functionaries who are eager to capitalise on the growing demand for cheaper alternatives to the heavily taxed liquor brands. Together they have formed a deadly cocktail in Tamil Nadu.

Liquor sales generated a revenue of over Rs45,000 crore in the last financial year, an increase of more than Rs 1,700 crore over the previous year. The rates go up constantly and make up for any loss in revenue due to token measures such as closure of a few shops and restriction on the number of hours the shops can remain open.

But this is also driving the poorer sections, in search for cheap illicit liquor, towards bootleggers. Toddy tapping is banned in the state for fear it would cut into the IMFL revenue stream. Also, Tamil Nadu is home to several distilleries who pressure the government not to allow legal sale of country liquor.

There is also a nexus between bootleggers and ruling party functionaries who have influence over Prohibition Enforcement Wing officers and administration officials. An entire ecosystem of politicians, corrupt officials, and poor wage earners, aided by a short-sighted liquor policy, thrives in Tamil Nadu, where experiments with total prohibition have alternated with free flow of all types of liquor, from smuggled international brands to illicit arrack.

After 65 people lost their lives in Kallakurichi to methanol-infused illicit liquor, drawing attention to failures at the level of policy, administration, and enforcement, the DMK government’s response was swift even if predictable.

Last Saturday, the Tamil Nadu Assembly adopted a Bill making punishment stringent for offences related to prohibited liquor like denatured spirits and methanol. The Bill amends the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937, and proposes rigorous imprisonment for life with a fine not less than Rs 10 lakh for the accused, in case of death due to consumption of illicit liquor. For certain other offences, rigorous imprisonment was increased to seven years with a fine of Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh. The punishment also includes confiscation of movable and immovable properties. The state Chief Minister MK Stalin even announced that SPs and other jurisdictional police officials would be held accountable in case of hooch related deaths.

Bootlegging has been a major menace in Tamil Nadu for long as it is popular among the poor who seek cheap liquor as stress buster. The DMK was one of the earliest proponents of Prohibition, but reversed the policy during the chief ministership of M Karunanidhi. The AIADMK too had tried Prohibition only to lift it for the sake of revenue or possibly pressure from IMFL manufacturers.

In the August 1967 twin tragedies (Madras and Walajabad) in northern Tamil Nadu, 140 people lost their lives drinking ‘French Polish’ (varnish), even when prohibition was in force in the state. The then Chief Minister CN Annadurai, however, refused to lift the ban on liquor though many argued that Prohibition resulted in bootlegging. Only after 23 years of dry law in the state was prohibition lifted by the Karunanidhi government in August 1971; toddy and arrack shops were also opened, giving easy access to cheap liquor for the poor. But, these cheap liquor was again banned in 1974. In 1976 tragedy struck again in north Madras when 60 people died of Methanol poisoning.

Since then, methanol poisoning was found to be the cause of death in many hooch tragedies that followed, including the one in May last year (2023). The MG Ramachandran government too brought in prohibition in the state for a while, but bootleggers continued to operate, selling arrack underground. Jayalalithaa, while banning cheap arrack, persuaded IMFL manufacturers to introduce cheap brands of IMFL to wean the poor away from illicit arrack. This added to the revenue stream while making bootlegging less lucrative.

In Kallakurichi, methanol was found to be the culprit. It is made from coal or fossil fuel and is the cause of hooch tragedies elsewhere in the country too because it is out of the tax net and cheap.

Investigation is now on to identify the source or the distillery from where the methanol was procured. It is unlikely that the methanol was an unremoved byproduct from some crude distillation process. There is no sign that this was an inadvertent mistake of a small-time bootlegger. Quite possibly, the methanol was procured in a large quantity and distributed through more than one bootlegger. It might have been deliberately added to increase the vigour of the liquor in the belief that dilution will make it sufficiently safe for consumption.

But even if all the culprits in this case are caught, hooch tragedies might not disappear entirely. There will be many who find IMFL unaffordable. Reintroducing toddy is touted as a cheap and safe alternative; with the Kerala story of controlled distribution as the model. This might however eat into the revenue from the IMFL, besides antagonising the powerful and cash-rich distillery owners.