Nearly a decade and a half after the tragedy, the 62-year-old wants more
C K Balan became stone blind after the 2010 Malappuram hooch tragedy. (Photo: DC)
Thiruvananthapuram: Three glasses of Manichan’s ‘magic potion’ served by Hyrunissa ‘thatha’ of the high-walled fortified house struck the light out of his eyes, presented him with untreatable illnesses and put him out of his lorry driver’s job for life. But Sasidhara Kurup alias K P Sasi is far from reformed. Nearly a decade and a half after the tragedy, the 62-year-old wants more.
Sasi has no intention to offer his blindness as a moral to the society, instead he wants the state to look upon his fate as a warning. “Those who intend to drink will drink by any means,” he said.
70-year-old C K Balan, who has become stone blind after the 2010 Malappuram hooch tragedy, too continues to drink but in a relatively safe manner as his sons pick their father’s bottle only from a Bevco outlet. It is this seemingly irresistible urge for the bottle that has made the government’s move to impose prohibition highly complicated.
“I have heard that ‘ozhippu kendrangal’ (illicit centres) have already cropped up in quite a large number of areas in the state, especially Alappuzha” said retired SP K K Joshua, a member of the Kalluvathukkal investigation team. “It is not as if these illicit centres operate in some secret den. These places are in accessible, visible areas or they will not get business,” Joshua said.
"Bootlegging can be eliminated to an extent if the political executive shows the will and the officials demonstrate commitment. In the Kalluvathukkal case we found that politicians and policemen were in the payroll of Manichan," Mr Joshua said. He also wanted the state to acknowledge that a sudden drop in official supply will encourage illegal sale.
"Manichan was the result of the arrack ban in 1999," he said. Making matters worse, toxic enhancers like methanol and ethy alcohol are used for industrial purposes and are easily available. Fr T.J. Antony, the secretary of Kerala Catholic Bishops' Conference's (KCBC) Temperance Commission, is aware of the problem.
"Only corrupt officials can destabilize the ban," Fr Antony said. He admitted that all the 28 small and big hooch tragedies that had taken place in the state involved outlets under government control.
( Source : dc )
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