Naidu Commission submits report on hooch tragedy

The Justice A S Naidu Commission of Inquiry today submitted its report on the hooch tragedy which claimed 43 lives in Odisha's Cuttack and Khurda districts last year.
"I have handed over the inquiry report to the secretary of Excise department at the state secretariat," Commission's Secretary Kashinath Panigrahi said.
Declining to divulge the contents of the report, Panigrahi said the commission completed its probe quickly.
The one-man commission, which began investigation into the tragedy in the first week of July, recorded the statements of 49 people in 56 sittings. It also received 123 affidavits during different hearings.
The incident which took place in the first week of February last year led to the resignation of then excise minister A U Singhdeo on moral grounds.

Poor people working in brick kilns of Cuttack and Khurda died after drinking spurious medicines mixed with liquor.
The government will study the commission's recommendation and take action before submitting it in the Assembly within six months, an official said.