Despite an unofficial prohibition prevailing since the 1990s, the Adivasis of Attappady block in Palakkad district continue to brew and consume illicit liquor, at times laced with even insecticides. The Excise and Police Departments maintain that bootleg mafias, once powerful in the hill range, have been busted. However, brewing is still on in inaccessible forest areas, and tribal children are used as hooch carriers. Addiction to spurious liquor has resulted in many deaths — some natural, some suicides — in the backward region, making a mockery of the ban.
“Furadan, a commonly used insecticide, is mixed in cheap arrack for quick intoxication. Consumption of this liquor poses a major health concern in the Sholayur region,” says a National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)-appointed community social worker in the region. Sulphate, used torch batteries, and various reptiles are also used in abundance to brew country liquor.
In the absence of government-authorised liquor retail outlets, residents of most of the 187 hamlets of the Irula, Muduga, and Kurumba tribes in Attappady consume such liquor. It is alleged that a strong lobby of outsiders, supported by local contractors-turned-politicians, is making a fortune, peddling the spurious drink to indigent tribes.
Children as ‘shields’“Many children work as carriers of bootleggers, skipping school. The liquor mafia uses them as shields against excise and police officers,” says M. Sukumaran of Attappady Samrakshana Samithy.
Local people say that prohibition has led to the bane of illicit liquor.
Earlier, only a handful of people in each hamlet were addicted to arrack and they used to go to faraway shops. Those shops were closed down following prohibition. Now liquor is available in the hamlets and even those who once kept off alcohol are now addicted to it.
Tribespeople say government authorities are complicit in the illegal business. Ramakrishnan of Varakampadi settlement says illicit liquor is sold publicly on the road from Anaikatty to Agali. The last bus from Anaikatty to Agali, which leaves late in the evening, is usually full of labourers, both men and women, who squander their day’s earnings on illicit liquor, he says.
From Tamil NaduExcessive consumption of illicit liquor, that too on empty stomachs, has taken its toll on the tribespeople’s health, say doctors under NRHM. Liquor is also brought from the Tamil Nadu government’s liquor outlet at Anaikatty to Attappady.
The shop, located near the Kerala border, has been witnessing brisk business. Buyers sell the liquor at higher prices in Kerala.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) government had set aside Rs.25 lakh last year for setting up a de-addiction centre in Attappady. The scheme remains on paper.
