CM fully responsible in hooch tragdy: Congress

BHUBANESWAR: The Congress on Sunday reiterated the demand for resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik holding him fully responsible for the hooch tragedy which has claimed 34 lives so far. About 25 to 30 per cent of the demand for country liquor is met by Aska 40 produced at the country spirit unit of the Aska Sugar Mill. Excise ministers at different times had proposed to import the rest of the requirement by the State Government. But each time the Chief Minister turned down the proposal, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik told mediapersons here. Niranjan demanded a CBI probe to unravel the truth. He said when Debi Mishra was the Excise minister he had submitted a proposal twice, in August and in November, 2008, in this regard. But the proposals were rejected both the times by the Chief Minister. Prafulla Ghadei had submitted a similar proposal on July 7, 2009, when he was in charge of Excise portfolio. The then Excise minister AU Singhdeo had also submitted a proposal in June, 2011. But all these proposals were nixed by the Chief Minister, he said. Whether the Chief Minister had done so under the influence of any liquor lobby or any other lobby should be investigated, Niranjan said and added Singhdeo has been made a scapegoat. He said Excise and Health ministers are no doubt responsible, but the buck stops with the Chief Minister, he said and added that Naveen should resign owning moral responsibility. Niranjan said the country spirit unit at Aska had supplied 58 proof litre (PL) country spirit in 2007-08, 58 PL in 2008-09, 60 PL in 2009-10, 84 PL in 2010-11 and 31 PL in 2011-12. The OPCC president alleged that the BJD leaders are hand-in-glove with the liquor mafia in many places. He even said a BJD MLA is associated with the manufacture of a country liquor brand. Besides, Eastern India Pharmaceutical Laboratory, which is in the eye of the storm, was allowed more country spirit for use in its plant than the prescribed limit.  The State Congress chief demanded a probe to identify the BJD politician under whose patronage the excess spirit was allowed to the pharma lab.