Bihar polls: UP steps up vigil in border areas to check liquor smuggling

In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 1.7 million litres of illicit liquor had been seized in Uttar Pradesh

In view of the coming the Assembly elections in Bihar, which is a dry state, and bypolls to a few seats in Uttar Pradesh, the UP government has stepped up vigil in the border areas to clamp down on bootlegging.

Liquor smuggling from the neighbouring Haryana and Punjab is quite rampant into the adjacent districts of UP, which is then surreptitiously transported to other districts in the state and onwards too.

In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the excise department in UP had seized nearly 1.7 million litres of illicit liquor, valued at more than Rs 45 crore. According