Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
'War on Drugs’ is hollow on Ground: Amritsar MP Aujla blames Punjab Govt for hooch deaths, demands high-level probe
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, May 16, 2025: Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla has launched a scathing attack on the Bhagwant Mann-led Punjab government over the recent hooch tragedy that claimed 27 lives in Majitha, Amritsar.
Speaking to the media in Chandigarh, Aujla said, “The government’s so-called ‘War on Drugs’ is a complete disconnect from the ground reality. If it were effective, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.”
Holding the Chief Minister directly accountable, Aujla demanded that “the CM must take full moral and administrative responsibility for the deaths and ask for the resignations of the officials responsible.”He added that the government’s failure to act despite repeated warnings had emboldened the illicit liquor and drug nexus in Punjab.
Referring to similar tragedies in the past, including the 120 deaths in 2020 and 20 in Sangrur in 2024, Aujla questioned the lack of transparency and punishment. “The law has become toothless. There’s no fear among the criminals,” he said.
Aujla further claimed that the government’s liquor pricing policy was forcing the poor to consume cheap and spurious alcohol.
“Good quality liquor is overpriced, and the poor are being pushed to death by being forced to buy poison,” he said, showing media the stark gap between the minimum and actual selling price of country liquor brands.
He also alleged a deep-rooted nexus between drug cartels, senior police officers, and Excise Department officials.
“This collusion is what’s destroying Punjab. Even in Majitha, the liquor was being sold just 200 meters from a police station,” Aujla said, calling it a clear case of tacit police support.
In a strongly worded demand, the Congress MP urged the formation of a high-level judicial inquiry headed by a sitting Punjab and Haryana High Court judge to investigate the hooch tragedy, drug-related deaths, and the illicit liquor trade.
He also appealed to the Central Government to send a Supreme Court judge-led delegation to probe the entire nexus of drugs and spurious liquor in the state.
“The investigations must expose the ‘big fish’—those behind overpriced liquor, unchecked ethanol movement, and political shielding of these illegal trades,” Aujla insisted. He also raised concerns about unchecked ethanol consignments entering the state, questioning how intelligence agencies failed to notice such activity.
Finally, Aujla vowed to continue raising his voice: “I will not back down. Amritsar and Punjab deserve better. Every honest officer, leader, and citizen must now stand up and be accountable, or Punjab’s very roots will continue to rot under the weight of drugs and poison.”