ASISH MEHTA
Bhubaneswar, Feb 2: Bootleggers are on the prowl across the city, their unholy nexus reaching up to several market areas and even the railway station exits, and the illicit brew affecting the lives of large numbers of people from the lower strata of life.
Also called askapati, the cheap, flavoured liquor has long been patronized by the habitual drinkers among the labour class. Country liquor is easily available in areas such as Ruchika Market, Barmunda Bus Station and Haldipadia. It is available, sources say, outside Platform 4 of Bhubaneswar Railway Station as well, which caters to a regular clientele among the passengers and those hang around the area.
Cocking a snook at the Commissionerate Police and the Excise department, bootleggers are present almost at every corner. Slums are the places where the liquor is said to be made. In Ruchika Market area, bootleggers are selling both foreign and country-made liquor. The means by which country liquor is made are often crude, using substances as troublesome as old batteries, that would seriously affect the health of those who regularly take such intoxicants.
To say the Commissionerate Police are not able to check the sale of country liquor may not be the entire truth. Fact is that they are game with it. Sources say several cops are turning a blind eye to such activities as they, as also excise officials, take bribes from agents, bootleggers and those who brew the illicit liquor. Illicit liquor is bulk produced as well. According to sources, sellers of illicit liquor stock huge quantities of such liquor at their shops and sell them at reasonable rates. By evening, customers will swarm such shops that also sell grocery and other items.
“The country liquor sellers throng the area Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday,” said a resident near Ruchika Market. “Though a large number of people come to the area, buy alcohol and drink it here, and the police is aware of what’s happening, no action is taken by the authorities, “ the stressed the resident who did not want his name to be revealed.
Barmunda bus stand, close to the Ruchika Market, is another spot where country and foreign liquor are available aplenty. Another locality for the illicit trade is Haldipadia. A pan shop owner in the area vouched for the fact that several men in the area are selling country liquor. “In fact, the situation is worse in Haldipadia. People are selling country liquor while brown sugar is also openly but the police are looking the other way,” he said.
The shopkeeper alleged that police officials were taking money from bootleggers.
A grocery shop owner near Platform 4 of Bhubaneswar Railway Station said people were having easy access to country liquor, which is sold from a licensed outlet in the area.
Bhubaneswar DCP, Satyabrata Bhoi, however, put the blame on excise officials. Joint efforts by the excise and police officials were a must to check the sale of country liquor, he said, adding, “We are taking sufficient measures to curb the sell of illegal country liquor.”
Additional secretary to the department of Excise, Sangram Keshari Ray, admitted that this was a matter of serious concern. There was need to refrain people from selling country liquor, he stressed.
Head of a rehabilitation centre in the city, Pratap Mohanty, said he came across several cases of people suffering from liquor addiction, but “this is curable through medicine, motivational classes and initiation to indoor games.”
