Breweries of death

The arrest of Hyrunnisa, the main accused in the recent hooch tragedy in Kollam, should help the Kerala police to get to the bottom of the case. It is obvious that the woman could not have carried on with her illicit liquor business but for the patronage she received from political and official circles. As reports suggest, she had a thriving business and she ran it in the most brazen manner. Justice, therefore, demands that all those who collaborated with her — whatever their status — should be held equally responsible for the death of over two dozen people. Given the political influence characters like Hyrunnisa wield, it is too much to expect the E.K. Nayanar government to strike at the bootleggers and their patrons. For, doing so can even endanger the stability of the Left Front government. The tragedy is a pointer to the failure of the state’s excise policy. Of course, the Left Front will blame the previous A.K. Antony government for banning the sale of arrack, which opened the floodgates of illicitliquor. The huge demand for arrack was sought to be met by the likes of Hyrunnisa by either brewing it in the state or importing it from neighbouring states.

Needless to say, not all the stuff that finds its way into the shops of the Hyrunnisas is all that lethal. That most of it is poisonous or unhealthy is, however, a certainty. But as is its wont, the government wakes up only when a tragedy of this magnitude strikes the state. And it is not infrequently that they occur, though they may not be as tragic as the Vypeen tragedy in which hundreds of people were either killed or incapacitated a decade ago. Why does it happen in a state which never toyed with prohibition? There are people who argue that it is the prohibitive cost of licensed liquor that encourages the illicit trade. The cost of liquor in Kerala is said to be one of the highest in the country, mainly due to its heavy excise content. But the solution is not to make liquor cheaper and thereby encourage the drinking habit. It is reported that even the liquor sold in licensed shops is not all that healthy. Fresh toddy, which until sometime ago was the common man’s drink, is now a rare commodity. What isavailable in the name of toddy is adulterated stuff. It is not uncommon for the dealers to add a whole lot of chemicals to make the brew stronger and stronger. But the solution is not prohibition, which has not succeeded anywhere it has been tried out.

In no case can the government shy away from its responsibility to ensure that the liquor business remain entirely above board. But this is possible only if the nexus that exists between officials in the excise department and the liquor mafia is broken, once and for all. It is the laxity in the enforcement of excise laws that encourages the mafia. That is precisely why Herunnisa escaped the police dragnet the first time she was arrested after a few people died immediately after they gulped the hooch she served them. If it is dinned into the minds of those who brew the killer stuff and sell it to the gullible that they cannot escape punishment, the tragedies of the kind Kollam witnessed will not recur.