Belt shops lure youth ‘rich’ with NREGS money-TOI-14.4.11

Belt Shops Mushroom; Liquor Flows Freely In Villages

Raghu Paithari | TNN

Nizamabad: After forming syndicates, the liquor mafia in Nizamabad district is now targeting young workers of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to rake in more moolah. Towards this end, the powerful mafia succeeded by roping in village development committees (VDCs) to help them open more belt shops in villages.
    Though it is illegal, a majority of these belt shops are being run in residential colonies, slum areas and on the outskirts of towns. With VDC members actively involved, liquor is flowing freely in interior villages, mandals and towns.
    “The most worrying aspect of this thriving belt shop culture is that youth who earn wages by taking up NREGS works are spending their earnings on liquor consumption,” a district level official said. He said the NREGS workers used to consume locally available toddy by spending small amounts. “But now, they are addicted to liquor and spending their hard-earned savings on Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) in these belt shops,” he said.
    Speaking to TOI, excise superintendent U Srinivas said that VDCs were strongly supporting the liquor shop owners to run belt shops in the villages. “Following assurances from the shop owners that they would donate for the development of villages, the VDCs are encouraging them to set up belt shops,” a senior official said.
    According to sources, 1,500 belt shops are being operated illegally across the district whereas there are only 142 licensed liquor shops.
    “Each liquor shop owner maintains at least 4-5 belt shops to achieve the targets fixed by the excise department and to recover his investments,” sources said.
    A belt shop is operated from a house in Ambedkar Colony in Nizamabad town, while 250 ml bottles of IMFL are openly sold in a CD shop and kirana shop in the same locality. Apart from cheap liquor, branded liquor is also available in these belt shops. A local youth P Mahesh detested the mushrooming of belt shops right in front of households. “The powerful liquor lobby is wreaking havoc with the lives of young workers. Their families are the worst hit with the workers expending all their savings in consuming liquor,” he rued.
    A liquor shop owner on condition of anonymity told TOI that they were forced to open more belt shops to recover the money invested during the auctioning. “We paid huge licence fees. We cannot run business with meagre sales. So, belt shops come in handy for us,” he said. Sources said every shop owner lifts 15 per cent extra liquor every month and shifts it to belt shops.
    A liquor trader paid Rs 2.52 crore to obtain licence for a shop in Kanteshwar followed by a businessman who quoted Rs 2.26 crore to bag the contract for a liquor shop near the bus stand area in Nizamabad. The district excise department earned a revenue of Rs 53 crore during the auctioning in June 2010.