new barrackpore why is it that hooch hubs in bengal have a revolutionary prefix if it is sangramgarh where scores have dropped dead since wednesday the north 24parganas illicit liquor den near sodepur is named after comrade lenin leningarh the 250odd hooch units in the area roll out thousands of jars of cholai country liquor catering to kolkata and its suburbs vendors load the jars in local trains from new barrackpore or shajipur from where the illegal trades retail network takes over according to rough estimates thousands earn their livelihood out of the cholai trade which has an annual turnover of rs 636 crore raw materials for hooch are not hard to find it could be anything from rice and gur molasses to chemical waste they are all packed in bags and dumped in ponds or nullahs where people seldom go the fermentation takes place there for a week or so the bags are then lifted and taken to the hooch factory to be distilled the process from production to sale is such that the administration and politicians cannot miss it a cross section of officials and politicians gets a cut of this illegal trade raids are part of police duty not to be taken seriously the hooch traders come back the very next day and set up shop the only difference is that premium rates for police and excise officials go higher after every raid several raids were conducted earlier but they could hardly dent the trade it was just an eyewash the hooch traders are back to their business as soon as the cops leave said sadhana das a resident of saharpur in bilkanda we see police coming in jeeps and collecting hafta from the manufacturers a leningarh resident said on condition of anonymity the hooch producers are quite powerful they have a long reach in the corridors of power and maintain a battery of musclemen to crush local dissent interestingly the area comes under khardah assembly constituency that usually elects the finance ministers of bengal this time it is amit mitra while for the last three decades it was asim dasgupta dasgupta had promised to demolish the hooch factories following 28 deaths in kidderpore in january 2009 but nothing came of it ministers and political leaders have assured us several times that we would be rehabilitated if we quit the trade but no one took any initiative we appeal to the government to set us free from this menace said atanu samanta a local resident whose entire family works in a hooch manufacturing unit at talbanda like samanta many people involved in the hooch trade are disturbed by the recent tragedy the illicit liquor brewing continues from morning to evening the air has a constant pungent smell and we are suffering from breathing trouble said archana saha a newbarrackpore resident the business gives local police and excise department officials a huge profit so who will bother to stop it we have no option but to vacate