(Palakkad): Sale of bootleg liquor is rampant in the three grama panchayats that constitute the Attappady development block though prohibition has been in force there for the last three decades. Cheap liquor is being smuggled in from the neighbouring Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu.
Intense struggles by Thaykula Sanghom, a tribal women’s initiative, had led to the closure of a liquor retail outlet of TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) just outside the State boundary at Anaikatty last year. But a large network operated by non-tribals from both the States are diluting the prohibition by retailing cheap varieties of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL).
“Prohibition was enforced in Attappady three decades ago when illicit liquor consumption began to affect the health of tribespeople. Because of our constant vigil, the region is now almost free of illicit brewing. However, we are helpless in controlling the bootleg mafia that retails spurious liquor in the guise of IMFL from Tamil Nadu,” said P. Maruthi, president of Thaykula Sanghom.
According to M. Geetha, another leader of the women’s collective, cheap liquor from Tamil Nadu is easily available in Agali, Pudur and Sholayur grama panchayats comprising Attappady despite strong civil society vigil, mainly by women. “They smuggle in liquor using trucks operated by non-tribal vegetable cultivators and sellers in the region,” she said. Tribal women say the police and Excise personnel turn a blind eye to these activities.
“In fact, prohibition is taking a toll on tribal health here. Instead of supplying quality liquor at affordable rates, the government has given a free hand to the mafia,” says Naseer Usman, a social worker in
Sholayur.
Addiction to cheap liquor has resulted in many deaths — some natural, some suicides, he says. Because of
prohibition, there are no government-authorised liquor outlets in the region. So, the residents of most of the 192 hamlets of Irula, Muduga, and Kurumba tribes depend on the bootleg mafia.
