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City high on illicit liquor; gets 2,000 ltrs daily

By Bala Chauhan DH News Service, Bangalore:

Bangalore City on a daily average receives around 2,000 litres of illicitly distilled (ID) liquor from its four surrounding villages - Adigarakalahalli, Bylanarsapura, Kadeganahalli and Medimallasandra.

The liquor, a crude form of arrack, is sold at various places like Jayanagar 9th Block, Tannery Road, Mysore Road, Azadnagar (near Chamrajapet), Madivala and M S Palya, for Rs 5 per pouch of 100 ml, which is less than half the price of authorised arrack.

“The average daily production of ID liquor from the four villages is between 3,000 and 4,000 litres. The production has gone down because of stringent enforcement and regular Excise raids. It would, otherwise, have easily crossed 15,000 litres a day,” said Deputy Commissioner Excise (Rural) Basavaraj Kanji.

The villages are notorious ID and duplicate liquor manufacturing centres for the last several decades. “It’s like a family business, involving women and children,” he said.

Smuggling

The ID liquor is made with rotten or waste jaggery and molasses mixed with water. “They put an Ayurvedic plant - Beladatogatte - and rotten fruits for fermenting the mixture, which is kept for 24 to 48 hours in barrels buried under the fields. During the night, the wash (the fermented mixture) is taken out and distilled. The liquor is then filled in motor tyre tubes and smuggled to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, besides Bangalore and other districts of the State,” said the officer.

The biggest market for bootleggers is Tamil Nadu because arrack is banned in the State. “They get maximum price from Tamil Nadu. One sachet of 100 ml may be priced at Rs 10,” he added.

Mafia

“There’s a huge mafia at play. In Adigarakalahalli, which manufactures maximum amount of ID liquor, the wholesale dealers supply molasses and waste jaggery to the villagers and buy IDL at Rs two or three per litre in bulk,” said another Excise officer.

The agents reportedly connive with truck drivers, who transport molasses from the sugar factory to the distillery. Molasses is allotted to the distilleries by the Excise Commissioner on a quota basis.

“For fermentation, the villagers even use torch batteries for their acid content. They use sewage water for mixing the wash. ID liquor is slow poison because its low graded alcohol,” said the officer.

The illicit liquor business is known to thrive on political patronage. “Politicians order ID liquor in bulk during elections,” alleged a former Excise officer.

“The government is thinking of enforcing the Goonda Act to put an end to the menace,” said Mr Kanji.

Spurious liquor centres around Bangalore

*Adigarakalahalli (Anekal tq)

*Bylanarsapura

*Kadeganahalli

*Medimallasandra

(The above three in Hoskote taluk)

*Biggest grey market - TN & Bangalore

*Total average daily production - around 3,000 to 4,000 litres.

*Ingredients used for IDL- rotten jaggery, fruits, molasses, Ayurvedic plant, torch batteries mixed with sewage water.

*Price of 100 ml of IDL - Rs 5

*Price of 100 ml of authorised arrack - Rs 11.50

*Govt likely to enforce The Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders & Gamblers under the Goonda Act.