The Excise Department’s efforts to stop the manufacture and sale of illicit liquor in the district through repeated raids, awareness campaigns and heavy penalty seems to have worked.
Sources in the Excise Department said here on Wednesday that almost all illicit liquor manufacturing dens in the district had been closed and only three known ones remained (one in the city and two in Sedam taluk), and steps had been taken to close them down too.
Sources said that in the last few months the department had conducted several raids and booked cases against the operators, bringing down the number of illicit liquor manufacturing dens.
The stringent punishment imposed by courts on those involved in the manufacture of illicit liquor had forced the operators to quit the business.
Local courts have imposed a minimum imprisonment of one year along with a fine ranging from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh on those convicted of manufacturing illicit liquor.
73 shut down
Sources said that there were 76 illicit liquor manufacturing dens operating in the district and, of these, 73 had been shut down. The remaining three would be closed before the end of January.
