As many as 11 trucks loaded with more than 13,000 cases of liquor meant for liquor shops in Puducherry have been stranded at the interstate border at Pattanur near Gorimedu for a few days now owing to the lockdown.
According to sources, the trucks carrying Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and beer from Karnataka and Goa left their places of despatch last month and by the time they reached Tamil Nadu limits, the second phase of the lockdown stood in the way of the consignments reaching the Union Territory where liquor merchants had booked the beer to beef up stocks. The godowns in Puducherry were sealed by the Excise Department as part of measures to prevent illegal liquor sale during lockdown.
A truck driver said they were facing a piquant situation as they could neither bring the vehicles into Puducherry for unloading nor take them back to the places of despatch. “I’m afraid there will be no safety for us or the goods if the trucks remain parked here,” he said.
₹1.9 crore worth of goods
An Excise Department official said the IMFL shops already placed the order before the lockdown kicked in and the stocks were despatched before they could cancel the order. In the meanwhile, Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi asked the local police to inform the Superintendent of Police, Villupuram, within whose jurisdiction the trucks are now stationed, to detain the transports and inform the licensees in Puducherry who had booked the consignment. The value of the shipment has been estimated to be ₹1.9 crore.
Ms. Bedi said the Excise Department had so far seized ₹76 lakh worth of liquor/arrack and cash in the U.T. during the lockdown. This illegal sales caused a massive loss to the government’s exchequer, she added. When contacted, a senior police official in Villupuram said that the trucks should either move into Puducherry or the police would send them back to their respective places of despatch.