CM Chandrababu Naidu exposes Jagan’s liquor loot

Vijayawada : The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday decided to order a CBCID probe into the massive liquor scam that had taken place during the five-year tenure of the YSRCP.

Calling it as one of the biggest scams in the state, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that along with the CBCID probe, they will also refer the case to the Enforcement Directorate since serious irregularities in cash transactions had taken place. “It is estimated that the loss will be to the tune of about Rs 1 lakh crore,” he added.

Releasing the white paper on Excise in the Assembly, Naidu said his government will take strict action on all those involved in the scam. He said of the retail sales worth Rs 99,413 crore in the last five years, digital payments were made only in respect of sales costing Rs 615 crore. Naidu said, “It is an irregular conduct of operation.”

“Due to the flawed and inconsistent policy brought by then Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, the state exchequer suffered a loss of more than Rs 18,860 crore,” Naidu said. There was rampant corruption in the supply chain. At the production level, there were instances of forcible takeover of existing companies, intimidating old entities, delays in payments and stoppage of orders to multinational companies, he added. At the procurement level, manual or discretionary procedure was adopted with collusion of officers. At the marketing level, it was their monopoly, Naidu commented. The removal of low-priced liquor stocks and abnormal increase in prices turned unbearable for the consumers. It forced the poor, who could not afford the prices, to depend on adulterated liquor manufactured locally and some turned to ganja, the CM said.

According to the white paper, suicides related to alcohol, or drug addiction in 2022 increased 100% compared to 2018 as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, he said.

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), emotional, physical, or sexual violence by husband when drunk was put at 76.4% and the sufferers were women aged between 15 and 49.

Liver and kidney ailments increased. The number of out-patients at the alcohol deaddiction centre at the Government General Hospital in Guntur alone increased to 4,913 in 2023 against 343 in 2020, Naidu said.

Participating in the discussion, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan said that ACB probe is ordered when an official takes a bribe of Rs 20,000 or even less. Since this involves Rs 19,000 crore misuse, the former CM cannot escape punishment.

BJP MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju said during their visit to KGH in Vizag they had noticed that gastroenterology ward was full with patients suffering various ailments due to consumption of low quality liquor. TDP MLA Raghurama Krishnam Raju and Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy also demanded a thorough probe into the issue.