In the wake of the recent incident of hooch tragedy in Assam that took away several lives , the Department of Excise has tied up with the Pune based National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) to develop a low cost testing kit for detection of spurious liquor.
There are also plans for setting up a modern chemical laboratory to test and authenticate liquor products in Assam, according to reports.
State excise minister Parimal Suklabaidya, additional chief secretary (Excise) Jishnu Barua and excise commissioner Rakesh Kumar held a meeting with the scientists of NCL on Wednesday.
The Excise Department requested the scientists of NCL to develop a low cost paper based kit for detection of spurious liquor.
The scientists ensured that they will develop the kit which is supposed to be a chemical indicator that will detect the presence of poisonous substances in the liquor.
The kit will be made available at liquor vends, and to the field staff of the Excise Department and police.
The laboratory will be built under the World Bank-funded ASPIRe (Assam State Public Finance Institutional Reforms) project of the Finance Department at an estimated cost of Rs four crore.
NCL, which is a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) will prepare the action plan and detailed project report (DPR) of the planned laboratory in the State within six months.