Dibrugarh: Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association’s (ATTSA) Tinsukia branch launched a campaign against illicit country liquor, locally known as ‘sulai’, in tea gardens on Sunday.The drive began at Mahakali Tea Estate, where ATTSA members and police raided ‘sulai bhattis’ in Line No. 12. They seized and destroyed drums of the brew, with support from women workers.“Sulai has destroyed countless families in our tea gardens. It is not just a health hazard but a social crisis. Today’s action at Mahakali Tea Estate is only the beginning. We will carry this campaign forward to every tea garden in the district until these illegal dens are wiped out completely,” Kurmi said.Women workers said the trade caused domestic distress, with wages often spent on the cheap spirit.“We have watched our families suffer for years. Men spend their earnings on sulai instead of feeding their children. We welcome this initiative and want the administration to ensure such dens do not come up again,” said a woman tea plucker.The drive followed an Aug 18 order by Tinsukia district magistrate Sumit Sattawan requiring registration of traders and dealers of liquid molasses and molasses powder to curb diversion of the key raw materials used in sulai production. Molasses is locally known as Lali Gur.The 2019 hooch tragedy, which killed at least 158 tea garden workers in Golaghat and Jorhat after they consumed methanol-laced sulai, remains a grim reminder of unregulated liquor.ATTSA said it would coordinate with the administration and police to sustain the campaign.
