Khammam: The villages on the borders of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam in Telangana state have turned out to be a major barrier in making the excise officials' declaration, regarding making the district arrack free, a reality.
The excise officials declared Khammam district arrack free on December 8, 2015.
However, trouble cropped up from the few villages that have been transferred to the residuary Andhra Pradesh. The excise officials in Khammam district cannot encroach into the territory of AP and so cannot check the illegal activity.
The Andhra Pradesh government too has been taking all measures, under the Navodayam scheme, to ensure that all the districts in the sate are free of illicit liquor. However, brewing of arrack is going on unchecked in the border villages of Andhra Pradesh, which have been transferred from Telangana due to shortage of excise officials in these mandals.
Countrymade arrack is freely available even in the temple town of Bhadrachalam. Yatapaka, Pichukalagudem and Gangaram are the main centres for illegal arrack brewing from where it is transported to various villages in Khammam district.
The villages of Chintoor, Kunavaram, V R Ramachandrapuram and a part of Bhadrachalam were merged with the East Godavari district after being transferred to AP. There is limited excise staff in these mandals. There are no legal liquor shops in these mandals yet and so the brewers have made these habitations as the main centres of their illegal activity.
As part of efforts to make Khammam district gudumba-free, about 2,439 cases have been filed relating to brewing of arrack and 2,064 persons were arrested. Four kingpins of arrack trade have been arrested and sent to the jail.
Cases under IPC and CrPC have been booked against 2,094 persons who sold the necessary raw material for brewing arrack and extending help to the brewers. However, all these efforts went in vain after the transfer of the villages to neighbouring AP.
The brewing of cheap liquor is simple and cheap but gives good profit when sold.
To tackle the problem, the excise officials of Telangana state suggested joint raids with their counterparts in AP and there has been a positive response to it.
