A rare and ‘dry’ village since pre-Independence

No liquor is sold, nobody drinks, nor comes drunk to this village, say residents

Holding on to a virtue: Khambampadu presents a picture of peace and tranquillity.

It’s a bumpy ride to Khambampadu, a sleepy village about 75 km. from the district headquarters. At first sight it looks like any other village, but is a model for other villages. Its claim to fame? It has been liquor-free for several decades.

One cannot even spot a liquor shop in the village, because there is none. There is no toddy tapping either though the landscape is dotted with palm trees.

A model village

The residents who were chitchatting at the village square after a toil in the fields -thanks to heavy overnight rain - stopped the conversation, but began to open up when asked about the social boycott of liquor in vogue for over seven decades.

“There is no liquor shop in the village with a population of 1,000, and nobody comes drunk to the village either,” proudly says a group of people in the village on the banks of Gundalakamma river in Mundlamuru mandal in Prakasam district.

On Mahatma’s call

In the olden days, if tipplers sauntered into the village, villagers used to tie them to a tree and impose a token fine of Rs. 5 to Rs. 10.

But how did the village go dry when drinking was de rigueur ? In the thick of the freedom movement, the village elders, on a call given by Mahatma Gandhi decided to impose prohibition in the village and slapped penalty on those brewing country-made liquor then, recalls 75-year-old A. Subba Rao. “The decision taken with a lot of forethought paid dividend with peace prevailing both at home and in society,” he says going down memory lane. “We are able to give a better future for our children,” he adds.

“The village has not seen good inflows into the river in the last four years. Yet we manage to run the family without any hitch with whatever income we get by raising cattle as our menfolk eschew liquor,” adds Katragatta Ranganyukulamma, an elderly woman, who settled in the village some four decades ago after marriage.

“We give priority to educate our children”, adds another woman K. Ramadevi, whose son has scored 10 GPA in the last SSC examination.

Tried but shooed

Attempts were made to open a liquor shop in the past. In 1997, some outsidersobtained a licence to start a liquor shop in the village. “Setting aside political differences, we unitedly resisted the attempt forcing the licence holder to retreat,” adds another resident Kantha Rao. The village largely inhabited by the members ofthe socially and politically influential Kamma community has a say. Without their blessings it is practically impossible to do business.

Gorantla Sriramulu, erstwhile village head and others who succeeded him like Ch. Ram Babu and U. Rama Rao, continued the practice.

Successful progeny

“Over 90% of the residents are literate and a good number of youth from the village had completed professional courses and secured jobs in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and also abroad,” says 20-year-old techie Ch. Chaitanya who recentlycleared the campus interview by an IT firm.