Farmers, associated with the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), sold liquor outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner here on Friday to symbolically protest against the illegal sale of cheap quality liquor and spurious toddy that is prepared using chloral hydrate powder (a cheap sedative) in rural areas.
They alleged that cheap liquor was rampantly sold at tea stalls, grocery shops, petty shops, small hotels and other petty business establishments and in some households in every village without any licence.
They condemned the authorities for their “indirect support” to the trade.
“Cheap liquor including spurious toddy prepared with CH powder, which is very dangerous, is illegally being sold without any licence. As a result, young and working population is addicted to alcohol and their families are ruined. People from poor sections, often from the Dalit and other backward communities, are worst-hit as these are the people that consume the cheap liquor,” said Chamarasa Malipatil, State president of the organisation.
If Chief Siddaramaiah is really concerned about the marginalised sections, he should initiate appropriate action to control the liquor menace that is destroying villages and agricultural based economy, he added.
Amaranna Gudihal, State secretary of the organisation, alleged that officials of police and excise departments had joined hands with local arrack traders.
“Illegal sale of cheap liquor and spurious toddy in such a rampant and open manner in is not at all possible without an active support from the authorities, particularly from police and excise departments. If the government doesn’t stop this, we will have to resort to more intensified and violent struggles,” he warned.
He demanded that the Excise and Police Department conduct surprise raids on shops and tea stalls in rural areas and book criminal cases against all those who were involved in illegal selling of cheap liquor and spurious toddy.
