Bhubaneswar, Feb. 13: The Cuttack-Khurda hooch tragedy, which claimed not only the lives of 35 people, but also the jobs of a minister and the excise commissioner, has pushed up liquor sales, especially Indian made foreign liquor and beer.

“The sales have gone up mainly because of the ongoing panchayat elections and the crackdown on sub-standard country liquor,” said a senior official of the excise department.

The increase in the sale of liquor was more than evident from the sales figures for February.

According to sources, while excise duty to the tune of Rs 73 crore had come to the state government last February from the sales of the 40 registered liquor companies in the state, the earnings by February 12 this year is already Rs 71 crore from the sale of only foreign liquor and beer.

“By the end of the month, the figure could very well touch Rs 140 crore and this shows the exponential increase in liquor sales,” said an official.

Till yesterday, the sale of Indian made foreign liquor from the Khurda depot had touched 51,903 cases (one case generally contains 9 litre), beer sold 33,533 cases (each case contains 7.8 litre) and country spirit sold 24,061 cases (each case contains between 3 and 4 litre).

The Khurda depot supplies liquor to Bhubaneswar and its nearby areas.

In Cuttack, Indian made foreign liquor sold 68,780 cases, beer 20,518 cases and country spirit sold 30,786 cases till yesterday.

Significantly, the acute shortage of country liquor in the wake of the tragedy has also seen a rise in the sale of home-made liquor, such as handia and rasii in the slums of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

“The cost of handia and rassi has also gone up. But at Rs 10 a glass, we can still afford it,” said Madhu Tudu, who stays at Salia Sahi, the state’s biggest slum located in the capital.

The demand for rum has also gone up in both Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. “A nip-size bottle of rum can be bought for Rs 50. It still comes cheap as compared to other varieties of foreign liquor. I take rum twice and week and manage with home-made liquor on other days,” said Purna Behera, another slum dweller.

While former excise commissioner Sudarshan Nayak, who had angered chief minister Naveen Patnaik for failing to curb the flow of hooch in the state, was today shifted to the pension and grievances department, excise and police officials intensified raids against illicit liquor across the state.

The managing director of Orissa Mining Corporation, Saswat Mishra, will hold additional charge of the excise commissioner till someone else is appointed.

The excise department has arrested 89 persons for selling spurious liquor in the Bhubaneswar-Khurda-Cuttack region so far and the police has made 11 arrests in this connection.

In another development, the deputy collector of Khurda, Gayatri Devi, and the collector of Cuttack, S.N. Girish, have filed an affidavit stating that compensations have been given to the families of the hooch-tragedy victims.