Toddy shops reopened

An employee at a toddy shop at Mattukatta cleans the dust on its name board after it was reopened on Friday.

As many as 20 more toddy shops in the district were reopened on Friday after the Public Works Department (PWD) gave official letters to the Excise Department regarding the status of the roads on which the toddy shops functioned. Most of the shops are on

the Kuttikanam-Kattappana stretch of the Kottayam-Kattappana road.

Of the 206 toddy shops in the district, as many as 111 function now, said a senior official in the Deputy Excise Commissioner's office. The toddy shops were closed down on March 31 following a Supreme Court order banning liquor outlets on State and national highways.

An employee in a toddy shop at Mattukatta said tappers had started bringing toddy from Friday. The toddy available at the shop was from local palms, he said, adding that there was no supply of toddy from Palakkad or Marayur in the shop.