Karwar: On Saturday night around 11 pm, a Renault Duster with ‘strangers’ in it and 10 bottles of whisky were among the many vehicles which sneaked into Karnataka through the Majali composite checkpost (in Karwar) from Goa without being checked by the personnel.
Despite the checkpost having personnel from the excise, police and forest departments, none of them concentrate on checking all vehicles entering the state, knowing that liquor flows from Goa on a large scale to Karwar illegally especially during the weekend because of the price differential. Some ‘strangers’ got down from the vehicle after crossing the checkpost.
The Duster again went to Goa and returned and this time too, it was not checked. The car stopped at a distance. Meanwhile Additional DC of Uttar Kannada, H. Prasanna called the excise department DC informing about the Duster with liquor. The later rushed to the spot and saw the vehicle.
Excise officials had started verifying on how the vehicle entered without being checked at the checkpost when Uttar Kannada Deputy Commissioner Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh and Additional DC H Prasanna arrived at the spot and revealed that it was their secret operation to have a reality check done and they were the ‘strangers,’ inside the vehicle who had ‘illegally’ brought the liquor through the checkpost! Ghosh who receives several complaints about illegal liquor entering the state without proper checks, has started conducting such checks in disguise and this was the second operation. A few days ago Ghosh has gone in disguise in the town to know the places where illegal Goa liquor was being sold.
“I received several complaints of illegal liquor entering our district and thus conducted this operation. My aim was to get a first hand picture of the situation in our district. Personnel told me that only one complaint of illegal liquor entry was registered in one month. This shows that there has been not enough checking,” Ghosh told Deccan Chronicle. He has decided to issue showcause notice to the personnel at the checkpost for not conducting checks.
“A meeting of officials from police, Coastal Security Police, Coast Guard, Excise Department, Coast Guard, Revenue, Fisheries and Women and Child department would be held on Tuesday to discussion the measures to stop this inflow of illegal liquor,” he said.
“It is true that there is shortage of staff but the department could have posted personnel from other checkposts in the district at this interstate checkpost as this is an important spot,”he said.
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