Indian state plans to launch cheap whisky to prevent deaths from bootleg alcohol

At least 39 people recently died after consuming fake spirits in eastern state of Bihar

An Indian patient who drank toxic bootleg liquor is treated at Kushal Konwar Civil Hospital in Golaghat district in the northeastern Indian state of Assam (AFP)

The northern Indian state of Punjab plans to launch an inexpensive variety of locally made alcohol to wean a section of drinkers off unsafe, bootlegged whiskey.

The government of chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann recently informed the Supreme Court that “it wants to give people a cheap variety of country liquor” as a healthier substitute for homemade whiskey, according to Times Now.

This was informed by the Excise and Taxation Department of the Aam Aadmi Party-ruled state in an affidavit, the news organisation said. In the same hearing, senior advocate Ajit Sinha informed the court that the police have also strengthened local-level intelligence to detect and destroy illegal liquor manufacturing units, according to the report.