The poisonous liquor incident in Majitha assembly constituency of Amritsar district of Punjab has claimed 27 lives and the death toll may rise further. The deceased were daily wage labourers belonging to 7-8 villages of Majitha like Bhangali Kala, Marri Kalan, Bhangwa, Karnala, Patalpuri, Galowali, Talwandi Khumman and Thariewal etc. who used to work in brick kilns.
Earlier, such incidents due to poisonous liquor were heard in Bihar/UP or in backward areas of the country, but now even in Punjab, after a year or so, some such incident definitely happens. The Majitha poisonous liquor incident has also raised questions on the ‘War on Drugs’ campaign launched by the Punjab government.
Before this liquor incident, in the year 2024, more than 16 deaths had occurred due to consuming poisonous liquor in Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s own district Sangrur and the constituencies of Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora. Almost all the people who lost their lives after consuming poisonous liquor belonged to poor families, who were unable to buy the expensive liquor sold at government shops due to their domestic and financial constraints. Taking advantage of this, those who make and sell illegal liquor had been coming to these poor settlements for a long time to sell liquor prepared by adding chemicals at their homes at cheap prices. These liquor smugglers did not even have any scale to prepare liquor, due to which such a tragic incident took place due to adding excessive quantity of any chemical and all the equipment used to prepare liquor was also recovered by the police within a few hours. Among the deceased in the said incident, 8 people belonged to Gujran village of Dirba constituency and 2 people belonged to Dhandoli Khurd village of the same constituency. 4 people were residents of Ravidaspura Tibbi in Sunam constituency and one was a resident of Jakhepal village of the same constituency. The 16th person was a resident of Samana constituency, who had come to visit his relatives in Ravidaspura Tibbi, who had also lost their eyesight. Other victims are facing physical problems. However, this matter cooled down after a few days and the poor people sat in their respective homes. From 2020 to 2025, more than 180 deaths have occurred due to drinking poisonous fake liquor. All these deceased are poor daily wage earners, who used to work hard and earn money to support their families.
Now the same will happen in the Majitha case, because Majitha is not the first or last incident related to deaths due to consumption of poisonous liquor in Punjab. Before this, in the year 2020, 131 deaths occurred due to consumption of poisonous liquor in Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts and 15 people lost their eyesight. In this case, 2 DSPs, 4 SHOs, 7 Excise and Taxation Department employees were suspended, but all were reinstated and returned to their respective jobs. At that time, 9 cases were registered and 179 people were found guilty. Several dozen people selling spurious liquor did not even come into the hands of the police. A large number of people selling illegal liquor are roaming around outside after taking bail. This incident is from the time of the Congress government. The then government had also given a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the victim families. But now the liquor scandal that took place during the Aam Aadmi Party government is demanding a different kind of investigation; because the Aam Aadmi Party, which came to power promising to eradicate drugs from the land of Punjab within 3 months, has not only been unable to stop the menace of drugs, but the courage of drug smugglers has been so high that despite the ‘war against drugs’, they are playing with the lives of people by running liquor manufacturing industries in their homes. Everyone associated with the government and administration will be aware of this liquor business. On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party, which is the ruling party in Punjab and this is the second incident related to poisonous liquor during their rule, while the incidents that occur with synthetic drugs are innumerable. Often, all this is done on political motives. Due to the political reach of liquor smugglers, no one is ready to lay hands on them, due to which their illegal liquor business continues without any restrictions. The administration took action after the incident that people feared finally happened. In the case of poisonous liquor, arresting the culprits and sending them to jail or registering a case will not solve the problem, but a thorough investigation should be conducted to find out with which political figures and administrative officials this business of poisonous liquor was being run. A continuous campaign should be launched against such elements and the culprits should also be punished speedily through the court process.
