Notwithstanding the regular raids by the police and Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) teams in around 30 villages that are known for brewing of illicitly distilled (ID) liquor in half a dozen mandals in Chittoor district for the last two years, the menace continues to pose a challenge to the officials.
Fearing raids, the otherwise clandestine operations have now said to have shifted to hillocks and deep forests.
Police say that the modus operandi being followed for brewing ID liquor, which came to light during the recent raids, have left the enforcement officials baffled. Some sugarcane farmers have taken to brewing of the contraband in their fields itself. “They (farmer) would make arrangements for brewing on the pretext of preparing jaggery, only to hoodwink the raid parties,” said a police officer.
It is no secret that the closure of cooperative and private sugar factories in Chittoor and Tirupati districts have pushed the sugarcane farmers into financial crisis, which worsened further owing to the economic slowdown induced by the coronavirus pandemic.
Police say that rural youths in the age group of 20 to 25 years help the kingpins run brewing operations. Lack of employment avenues in the absence of industrial, commercial or construction activities have made the youth in Vedurukuppam, Karveti Nagaram, S.R. Puram, G.D. Nellore, Gudipala, Chittoor Rural, and Punganur mandals vulnerable to the illicit trade. The ID liquor gangs lure the youth into the trade as they need a workforce to brew and transport the contraband and collect the revenues.
“An ID-liquor manufacturing unit set up in the middle of a sugarcane field is difficult to detect. Some sugarcane farmers have started looking at this illicit trade as a second source of income. Poverty is making the youth easy targets of exploitation by liquor gangs. However, we are slowly gaining ground. We have almost eradicated the brewing of ID-liquor in the villages. Now, the operations have moved to the hillocks and sugarcane fields,” says Karveti Nagaram Circle-Inspector S. Chandrasekhar.
He says the people should realise that ID-liquor is brewed in a risky manner, using rubber and synthetic material. “As a litre of arrack is sold somewhere between ₹200 to ₹600, there is a good patronage to it. A litre of arrack can be consumed by 10 persons at one go or for a week or more by an individual. The raids will continue till the menace is eradicated. The accused are being booked under the PD Act,” the police officer adds.
