The Police and Excise departments will join forces to carry out joint raids and to intensify the vigil on the State’s borders in the district to tackle brewing of illicit liquor, illegal sales and ferrying of spirit ahead of Onam.
A meeting of the district-level public committee to tackle the dangers of illicit liquor, chaired by District Collector Biju Prabhakar, discussed the strategies for the same at the District Collectorate here on Monday. The Police and the Excise would also intensify checking of vehicles apart from coordinating with each other for raids on illicit brewing spots and liquor sale dens in the district. The Excise department, officials said, had already opened 24x7 control rooms at the district and taluk headquarters apart from setting up a taluk-level coordination committee to coordinate activities of various departments concerned to tackle the menace of illicit spirit during the festival season. Officials have called upon the public to pass on any information they received on related activities or suspicious movements. The control room at the Collectorate could be contacted on 0471-2730045 while the District Excise Control Room could be contacted on 0471-2473149. The Excise Special Squad, was available on 0471-2312418 while the number of the Excise Circle Office, Thiruvananthapuram, was 0471-2348447.