Ahmedabad, August 26: After last month’s hooch tragedy in Gujarat, you would have expected the authorities to have learnt their lessons and cracked down on bootleggers.
But the state government apparently doesn’t believe in learning lessons.
For, hooch flows as freely as the Sabarmati in the city.
And your favourite tipple, from neighbouring Rajasthan, can be had for a price.
All you have to do to get hooch is to make a trip to the Makarba area in Sarkhej. It is sold with impunity here.
The presence of an unfamiliar face in their surroundings does not raise any eyebrows among its residents. For, an outsider in their midst means business for the people here.
In fact, the hooch tragedy has only given their business a triple boost. A pouch ( potli in local lingo) that used to cost Rs 10 earlier now sells for Rs 30.
“There are many problems now and we get no margin,” a bootlegger explained.
Even children appear familiar with the trade. They take the lead to show where the countrymade brew can be bought.
Of course, they don’t like too many questions.
One can avail of the hooch round the clock. ” Come anytime, I am available, just don’t come after 9.30 at night,” said a bootlegger.
At 4 in the afternoon, he gladly pulls out pouches of hooch from his hut to a buyer, just as he used to do before.
Makarba is not the only place where hooch is available. In the trouble torn Nagoriwad area in Shahpur, customers are sometimes offered a drink as a gesture of warmth, albeit in hushed tones.
“The Devipujak community here has been trading in local hooch for quite some time,” alleges Ramzan Luhar, a BJP worker from Nagoriwad, which saw a violent communal flare- up a week back.
“After the hooch tragedy, there have been some police raids but those who want to drink still manage to get it and the ones who sell find their buyers,” he added.
Spurious hooch had killed more than 150 people in Ahmedabad only a month back. Faced with nationwide criticism on the pseudo- prohibition in Gujarat and under pressure from the opposition, chief minister Narendra Modi, in a knee jerk reaction, strengthened the prohibition law.
Bootleggers can even get death sentence under the new law.
It’s not just the local brew that is freely available. Even Indian- made Foreign Liquor ( IMFL) can be bought. Evidence that this too is available is the empty liquor bottles at godowns of scrap dealers.
Bottles with June and July 2009 manufacturing dates signify that the liquor was consumed even as the hooch tragedy was unfolding in the state.
These bottles, marked ‘ For sale in Rajasthan only’, clearly mean that they came from outside Gujarat. Liquor sold to permit holders in the state have the seal of Gujarat government.
“The ones we get from permit liquor shops are marked for sale in the state of Gujarat,” said a prominent citizen of Ahmedabad, who has a liquor permit.
Noted Ahmedabad- based activist Harinesh Pandya squarely blamed the state government. ” The liquor trade in Gujarat is being carried out directly under the patronage of the state government. Starting from the beat constable to the higher ups in the home department, everyone has a finger in the pie,” Pandya alleged.
He said the state government sometimes puts pressure on the bootleggers and cracks, at other times it relaxes and lets the trade flourish. ” With the festive season under way, this is the time when huge consignments of liquor will get into Gujarat.
Sale of hooch will also skyrocket. Everyone is aware of this,” he added.
“Yes both local hooch and IMFL are being sold with impunity across the state and this simply cannot happen without the support of the state government,” said Gujarat Congress chief spokesperson Arjun Modvadia.
“The involvement of the government is reflected in the kind of police officers they are posting for the job. These officers have more political commitment,” he added.
But the police said the illegal trade in liquor had been curbed.” The situation is under control in the state, at least that’s what we think,” said DIG Hasmukh Patel, who heading the police’s prohibition squad. However, he admitted that illicit liquor trade has never stopped completely.
“Like any other crime, incidents of bootlegging can never be zero,” Patel said. ” However we are trying to contain this with the small team that we have,” he said.
–Agencies