The government policy towards total prohibition seems to have sparked off a sudden spurt of interest in taking over and operating toddy shops in the district.
About 100 toddy shops remain closed in the district – all the 61 in Mattancherry and Njarakkal excise ranges and another 40 elsewhere after they failed to find any takers.
A district-level committee for the welfare of toddy workers recently decided to reopen these toddy shops and to upgrade one toddy shop each in all 15 ranges into a model one.
The Excise department, meanwhile, has taken the interest evinced by a group promoted by a known abkari contractor to operate these shops with a pinch of salt. “These shops had no takers even during the peak season in April-May. Hence the interest shown during the off-season has naturally raised doubts in the wake of the government move towards prohibition. So we have asked the workers to verify the intentions of the proposer,” a senior excise department official told The Hindu .
The decision to open toddy shops in Mattancherry and Njarakkal ranges has been attributed to the situation that will confront Kochi taluk once the government’s liquor policy sets in. There will not be a single bar in the taluk except for those in three five-star hotels in Willingdon Island.
P.N. Seenulal, one of the State secretaries of the CITU-affiliated Kerala Samsthana Kallu Chethu Vyavasaya Thozhilali Federation, said the lack of capable leadership among the workers ruled out the takeover of shops in both these ranges by workers’ groups.
“The proposal for workers to take over the shops only to hand it over to a contractor to help the latter save considerable amount as licence fee is not acceptable to us,” he said.
Workers’ groups can take over shops for as little as Rs. 500 as fee while contractors will have to pay lakhs up front.
