Chandigarh, May 24 (IANS) Sixteen out of the 27 people who died due to consumption of illicit liquor in Amritsar belong to the Dalit community, said Punjab BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha President S.R. Ladhar here on Saturday.

Taking cognisance of this month’s deaths of 27 people due to poisonous liquor made from methanol in the Majitha area, the morcha has demanded intervention of the National Scheduled Caste Commission for justice to the victims.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, ministers, MLAs, MPs and government officials who accompanied him to the spot should clarify why they hid this fact, asked former IAS officer Ladhar. He said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has not registered a case under the Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989 against the accused who are enjoying political patronage.

“This shows the indifferent attitude of the Bhagwant Mann government. Why should we not believe that this indicates the anti-Dalit mentality of the Aam Aadmi Party government? The BJP will not allow such intentions of the government to succeed,” he said. He demanded a CBI probe into the incident of consumption of poisonous liquor in the past three years and said the government was trying to hide facts.

Another leader, Paramjit Singh Kainth, who’s the Vice-President of the morcha, said the incidents of consumption of illicit liquor have increased. He highlighted the incidents of consumption of poisonous liquor in Punjab, including the Amritsar incident and last year’s incident in Sangrur, in which 20 people died.

Most of the victims belong to the Scheduled Castes. While the incidents of consumption of poisonous liquor in Punjab are wreaking havoc on poor families, the AAP government is adopting a policy of evading the serious cases by calling them a matter of investigation, he said.

He said the investigation report of the Sangrur case should be made public as the incident pertains to Chief Minister Mann’s home district and Excise and Taxation Minister Harpal Singh Cheema’s constituency, Dirba.

Kainth alleged the government has failed to take effective action against the liquor mafia and demanded that the Governor should order a probe into the incidents of consumption of spurious liquor to expose the liquor mafia.

In 2020, 121 people had died after consuming spurious liquor in similar incidents in Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts.

–IANS

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