He was speaking after visiting the families of the victims in Dibburahalli in the taluk on Thursday. A few had misused the compensation given to the families of the farmers who had committed suicide, he said.
If the compensation is given to the families of the hooch victims also, it will be like the government is encouraging people to drink, he said.
After holding a discussion with the Chief Minister, a decision will be taken, whether the judicial enquiry should be conducted or the case should be handed over to CoD for investigation, he said.
Stringent action had been taken to control the manufacture of hooch and illicit liquor in the State after he became the Excise Minister, claimed Renukacharya.
Lot of stress had been given to maintain transparency in the department and steps had been taken to fill the vacant posts, he said.
The irregularities in the department had been set right and it had earned a revenue of Rs 6,985 crore to the government, he claimed.
After inspecting the spurious liquor bottles stored in the Dibburahalli police station, the minister asked the deputy commissioner to first confirm whether it was illicit liquor and then immediately arrested the accused.
Deputy Commissioner Anwar Pasha, Superintendent of Police T D Pawar, Excise department commissioner Jayaram, BJP district president Ravinrayan Reddy, general secretary C V Lokesh, secretary Bunk Muniyappa, taluk BJP president Ramesh Bayiri and Anuru Nagaraj were present.
Minister gheraoed
Later, the Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samiti members gheraoed Excise Minister Renukacharya demanding a judicial inquiry into the case where people from various villages had consumed hooch and died.
They surrounded him near Dibburahalli circle and demanded that immediate action be taken against the district administration officials for their negligence which led to the tragedy.
Many innocent victims lost their lives after consuming liquor. Hence each victim’s families should be given Rs five lakh as compensation, the protesters urged. Action should be taken against the candidates who had distributed hooch during the elections. Post mortem should be conducted on the bodies of eight dalits who had died after consuming liquor, they urged.
After receiving the memorandum from the protesters, Renukacharya assured them that after a thorough investigation action will be taken as per the law against them.
Karnataka Dalit Sangharsha Samiti district organising convenor Meluru Manjunath participated in the protest.
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