Booze has become a serious social and B sociological problem in Kerala but the Congress-led UDF Government is finding it difficult to put any controls on its sale and consumption despite objections to the present liquor policy from coalition partners, powerful anti-alcohol religious bodies and even senior Congress leaders.
As far as the Government is concerned, liquor is sweet poison which it cannot swallow or spit out. The money the Government is getting annually in taxes from liquor sales by State-owned Beverages Corporation (BevCo) alone is almost a quarter of the State's total budget size. But it will have to do something this time because the present antiliquor campaign is so intense.
The powerful Catholic Church, which had supported the Congress-led coalition in the Assembly election last April, has already threatened to launch an agitation if the Government is not prepared to practically fulfill its poll-time promise to strive to achieve total eradication of liquor from Kerala society in a phased manner.
The Muslim League, which with 20 members in the 140-member Assembly is the second largest constituent of the ruling coalition, has intensified its demand for perceptible changes in the liquor policy now followed by the Government. This party has clearly stated that the “evil of liquor” cannot be tolerated just because it is bringing in huge funds for the Government.
An influential section in the Congress itself, led by none other than senior leader VM Sudheeran, revered inside the party as well as outside as an incorruptible idealist, has even charged that certain elements within the Government are sabotaging the declared policy of the UDF as far as liquor is concerned.
“The UDF had come to power by promising to phase out alcohol from the society gradually and that stand had won the support of the people, ” said an officebearer of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council. “But things are not moving
exactly in that direction. No evil can be permitted in society just because it generates money, ” he said.
What has enraged the Church, the Muslim League and people like Sudheeran is the decision to grant licences to over 100 three-star hotels, which could then claim permission to run bars. Recommendation has already been given to grant licences to 53 such hotels.
It is alleged that such licences are being given through misuse of rules concerning three-star hotel status.
Top leaders, including Ministers from the Congress and other UDF parties, have already said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s usual policy of dealing with an issue as and when it arises cannot be allowed in the case of liquor, especially as a by-election is due in Piravam constituency where the Christian Church has formidable presence.
In this context, a nine-member UDF sub-committee constituted to discuss the issue of liquor policy is meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday but a top Muslim League leader said he was not expecting any positive outcome from it as “certain people seem to have already taken decisions to favour bar owners and the liquor mafia. ” Congress leader MM Hassan, head of the sub-committee, spoke harshly against leaders of his party raising criti
cism openly but Sudheeran rebuffed the statement within no time by saying that liquor was not an intra-party issue.
“The entire society is in the grip of the danger called liquor. There is no meaning in saying that there should be no open statements, ” he said. In the draft liquor policy he unveiled some time ago, Excise Minister K Babu of the Congress party had outlined some steps to phase out the sale and consumption of alcohol but the same Minister is now showing intolerance to criticism. “My job is not to respond to individual leaders’ comments, ” he said the other day when asked about Sudheeran’s statements.
Kochi-based sociologist BS Panicker said that all such discussions were for public consumption and that no change could be expected in the liquor policy. “Then Chief Minister AK Antony banned arrack (popular, cheap alcohol) in 1995 but it led to the popularisation of costly liquor. That is a gold mine for bar owners and the Government alike, ” he pointed out.
BevCo, the State-run monopoly liquor supplier in Kerala, had contributed `5,239 crore to the exchequer in 2010-11 through taxes and duties on the booze it sold through its 337 outlets. Its annual income last financial year was `6,730 crore, up from the previous year’s `5,539 crore. Kerala tops the list of States in per capita liquor consumption.
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