It is a heat map with a difference, one that shows who has been smuggling hooch.
Maharashtra is working to create a map of offenders found repeatedly guilty of bootlegging, smuggling of Indian Made Foreign Liquor or selling spurious liquor.
This geographical index is being built in the wake of hooch tragedies that have rocked the State. Last year, 107 people died after drinking cheap liquor high in methanol, while a similar tragedy claimed 87 lives in 2004.
Bootlegging and hooch deaths are being reported not just from Mumbai, but far-flung areas like Sindhudurg and Malvan, close to the Goa border.
There is an economic dimension to this, as liquor is cheaper in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh and Goa. Maharashtra prices are 30 per cent to 40 per cent higher, an open invitation to smugglers.
The mapping exercise has so far thrown up startling numbers: over 5,000 repeat offenders in police jurisdictions all over and 70 repeat offenders in Mumbai. The numbers are likely to rise once the drive is complete.
Repeat offenders are those who have either been booked under the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949, or charged with sections of the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act (MPDA). Once they are on the map, their movements will be tracked and monitored with the help of police.
“The idea is to clean up the system and prepare a list of offenders, who mostly operate hand in glove with junior officials from our department. The mapping is being done police-station wise and the list will be made public,” Excise Commissioner V. Radha said.
Maharashtra grapples with a twin problem: Indian Made Foreign Liquor smuggling and spurious liquor in suburban dens.
Spurious liquor, or ‘Hatbatti’, is on the rise. “There has been a hike in licensing fee for permits, and also prices of liquor,” said Niranjan Shetty, member, Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association.
