The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Bootleggers have a field day despite ban on arrack

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Tuesday, Apr 08, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Bootleggers have a field day despite ban on arrack

K.V. Subramanya

Raids were conducted in the village on April 2
Police unearthed 36 underground tanks

BANGALORE: Even a year after the State Government banned the manufacture and sale of arrack, illicit manufacturing of arrack continues to thrive in Adigarakallahalli, which is hardly a few kilometres from Bangalore.

Raids conducted by the Excise Enforcement and Lottery Prohibition Wing of the State Police at Adigarakallahalli on April 2 have revealed that the arrack ban has not made any difference to the bootleggers of this village bordering Tamil Nadu.

Using earthmovers, the police unearthed 36 underground tanks and destroyed a large quantity of illicit distillation wash worth about Rs. 11 lakh that was stored in these tanks.

The quantity of arrack manufactured in Adigarakallahalli is so huge that it caters to the needs of several districts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Inspector-General of Police, Excise Enforcement and Lottery Prohibition Wing, S.K. Venugopal, told The Hindu.

Expedient arrangement

According to Mr. Venugopal, every resident of this village is into manufacture of illicit arrack or fake Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL). “The people of Adigarakallahalli have quality RCC houses in the village. But they do not reside there. They live in Someshwaranagar and other localities in Bangalore. They come to the village during the night, manufacture arrack/IMFL, transport the consignment and vacate the village before the dawn,” he said.

There are villages such as Bylanarasapur, Kattigehalli, Shankanipura and Medimallasandra in Bangalore Rural district, where illicit distillation is rampant. But the arrack/IMFL manufactured in these centres is hardly 1/10th of that produced in Adigarakallahalli. In fact, Adigarakallahalli is “the capital of illicit distillation in Karnataka”. In the past three months, we have destroyed around 200 underground tanks in the village, Mr. Venugopal said.

The illicit distillation in these villages around Bangalore is said to be causing a revenue loss of over Rs. 50 crore a year to the State Excise Department. According to officials of the Excise Department, on an average, these centres manufacture 15,000 cases of fake IMFL and a large quantity of arrack.

The situation in these villages is such that even the police are hesitant to enter the villages fearing reprisals from the anti-social elements involved in the trade. There have been many instances of Excise Department personnel and also policemen being attacked by armed gangs at Bylanarsapura, Adigarakallahalli and Kattigehalli.

Other dealings

Further, many of the bootleggers from these villages are also into sandalwood smuggling, and they transport illicit liquor and sandalwood in the same vehicle. They mainly use stolen vehicles for transportation.

A former Superintendent of Police of Bangalore Rural district said that because of communal and political reasons, the police have not been able to sternly deal with the bootleggers and smugglers in these villages.

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