Hooch: State under pressure to act

BANGALORE: The state government is all set to come under intense pressure from forces leading the anti-liquor movement to invoke Section 50 of the Excise Act that mandates gram panchayat members and officials to facilitate action against unlawful liquor dealers and those involved in manufacturing hooch.“The rampant sale of liquor in rural areas by unlawful dealers and hooch manufacturers, shows that the GP members and officials working at the lowest level have completely forgotten to curb this social menace. So, we have decided to mount pressure on the government to warn officials to detect such anti-social elements and take action against them,” Vivek Vincent Pias, project director of the Belthangady-based Jana Jagruvi Vedike, told Express from Bhatkal on Saturday. JJV is one of the arms of Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatha Rural Development Project.  According to Section 50 of the Excise Act, the GP members and village accountants are mandated to inform the excise officials the manufacture and sale of liquor including hooch and seconds by unlawful persons in rural areas. “If dereliction of duty is established on their part, then the penalty is `5,000 and imprisonment up to three years according to Section 49 of the same Excise Act. That no GP member or official has been penalised or punished for violating this law is a telling comment on the state of affairs. It is a proof that neither the elected representatives nor the officials have bothered to enforce this provision of the statute strictly. We will ensure that the RDPR as well as Excise departments act now,” Pias explained. The issue has come into sharp focus following unlawful appointment of sub-agents by wine merchants in rural areas in order to push the sale of liquor. These sub-agents who get their stocks from urban-based wine merchants, in turn, coax people in rural areas to drink the “sophisticated” stuff. This, rather, weird idea is said to be aimed at pushing the sale of liquor in order to gain more revenue from Rs. 7,500 crore to Rs. 10,000 crore, as announced by Excise Minister M P Renukacharya but he has stoutly denied that the officials have forced wine merchants to push the sale of liquor.