GPCC Gen Secy Darshan Naik suggests several measures to Gujarat Home Minister to curb country and IMFL liquor in Surat

Surat : With the menace of country and IMFL liquor is still continuing in the coastal villages in Olpad and Choriyasi talukas in the fourth fastest growing city of the world and Gujarat’s economic capital, Surat, Darshan Naik, general secretary of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has suggested a slew of measures to Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi to ensure the eradication of liquor dens and tightening noose around the bootleggers illegally supplying IMFL from the union territory of Daman and other neighbouring states in Surat.

Darshan Naik stated in a letter to Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi that cases of IMFL smuggling from outside Gujarat by bootleggers in Surat city and district, as well as cases of country liquor being produced and trafficked in several villages in Surat district, are still ongoing.

Country liquor distilleries operate at night, and the liquor is transported to other areas in the early hours of the morning via motorcycles and private vehicles. These illegal acts have continued despite repeated oral and written complaints to the police department.

This has raised serious concerns about where the liquor manufacturers obtain their supply of jaggery—the main ingredient in country liquor—and who transports IMFL from outside Surat to Surat city and district. Are the police and government investigation agencies in the dark about this? In Surat city and district, the police department’s vigilance team seizes liquor during raids. In the last two years, police have seized approximately Rs.21 crores of liquor in various raids. Why are the local police not intervening and destroying country liquor distilleries in Olpad taluka villages?

Even today, large-scale indigenous breweries run in the thickets on government and private land in many villages along the coast of Olpad taluka. Why is it that a Gram Panchayat resolution to ban alcohol is not being implemented? The government should take this issue seriously and take immediate and effective steps to enforce Surat’s prohibition law.

State-of-the-art liquid cameras, according to Naik, should be installed at border entry and exit points in Surat city and district. Surat district’s coastal villages should be patrolled, especially at night, to prevent IMFL from being smuggled into the city via sea route.

Every Saturday and Sunday, a “Special Police Drive” should be conducted to combat the scourge of liquor in sensitive areas where IMFL and country liquor are sold in the city and district. Investigate the illegal production and sale of inedible jaggery, as well as the fertilisers and chemicals used in the production of the country liquor. Who are the retailers and wholesalers of jaggery who supply the country breweries?

Orders should be issued to the police department to patrol industrial areas such as Sayan, Delad, Kamrej, Masam, Vareli, Jolwa, Tatithiya, Keem, Pipodara, Kosamba, Tarsadi, Vav, Navipardi, Velanja, Gothan, Bardoli, Mahuva, and Mandvi Karanj where country liquor and IMFL are sold and smuggled.

Drone cameras should be used to monitor such illegal activities in areas where country liquor or IMFL liquor is found. The Income Tax Department should investigate the financial assets of wanted bootleggers in Surat city and district, as well as bootleggers who have been prosecuted or prosecuted in the last five years.

It is critical that the State Government enact legislation or issue an order stating that a Police Jamadar or Beat Jamadar who has served in one police station may not be assigned to the same police station again.