Every time curbs are in place on liquor sales, the demand for jaggery records a perceptible but suspicious rise in the district.
The Excise Department knows what the trend means and accordingly has intensified its presence across remote villages, forest fringes and backwater isles. The results have always been encouraging, with several hundred litres of wash and brewing equipment being seized and a corresponding number of arrests being made.
As the countrywide lockdown progressed into its third week, excise sleuths in the district have been on their toes against a booming illegal brewing business in the region. As on Monday, the department has busted 14 illegal breweries in locations as different as R-Block in Vembanad Lake to Koruthodu and Pampa Valley in the High Ranges.
Confirming a sudden spurt in illegal brewing activities since the start of the lockdown, A.R. Zulfikar, Excise Deputy Commissioner, Kottayam, said joint raids with the Forest Department were being conducted in the High Ranges and with the police in backwater regions.
“Over 850 litres of wash and brewing equipment have been seized, besides eight litres of country-made arrack. Investigations so far suggested that hooch distilled in some of these units had reached the open market as a substitute to liquor during the lockdown days,” the official said.
Official sources attributed the flourishing of illicit breweries deep inside the forests to the easy availability of water and firewood, considerably bringing down the cost of production. At the same time, those on the backwater isles banked on the inability of officials in accessing these locations.
Meanwhile, the curbs on remanding prisoners in jails due to the COVID-19 crisis have put the excise sleuths in a spot. “Of the 14 taken into custody, we have been able to record the arrest of only six persons” said an official.