Aizawl: At least 49 people, including five women, have died in Mizoram due to complications related to alcohol consumption between January and June this year, a senior official said.
State Excise and Narcotics Department Commissioner Z. Lalhmangaiha said the department has been making massive efforts to curb the menace of drug, alcohol, and other substance abuse.
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He said the department has so far examined and tested samples of country-made or locally brewed alcohol twice, as it is reportedly dangerous for human consumption.
He added that the department sent the first sample to Delhi for laboratory testing in 2023, and the results confirmed that the country-made liquor was extremely dangerous for consumption.
This year, he said, the department sent another alcohol sample to Delhi to verify its safety for human consumption.
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The laboratory test results of the latest sample were unsatisfactory, and the department is now taking steps to send another sample to Kolkata, he added.
Lalhmangaiha said officials are conducting inspections at hotels and restaurants to determine whether they are selling alcohol in violation of the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Act, 2019.
The Act completely prohibits the manufacture, consumption, sale, and import of liquor in the state.
The commissioner said department officials are also regularly conducting night patrols in Aizawl and other district headquarters to maintain public order.
During these patrols, officials discovered more than 100 homeless people, who spend the night on the streets, in marketplaces, or outside homes, he said.
He noted that drug addiction affects most of these homeless individuals, and some of their families have disowned them.
According to the Excise Commissioner, the government has so far issued 101 licenses to manufacture or sell wine made from locally produced fruits and grains.
Licenses have been issued to 99 individuals, and one each to a society and a club, he said.
On March 10, the Mizoram Assembly passed an amendment bill to the prohibition law, allowing the manufacture, sale, and supply of wine and local fruit beer made exclusively from locally grown agricultural and horticultural products such as ginger, banana, dragon fruit, passion fruit, pineapple, gooseberry, guava, starfruit, sugarcane, jackfruit, watermelon, and honeydew melon.
The bill also proposed granting special alcohol permits to foreign and domestic dignitaries as well as tourists.
State Excise and Narcotics Minister Lalnginghlova Hmar, who introduced the amendment bill, said the bill focuses on farmers, aiming to uplift them by allowing the processing of their agricultural and horticultural produce into wine and beer.
Opposition members walked out as the Assembly passed the bill.