Statesman News Service
MALDA, 24 JUNE: The production of country spirit (CS) has been suspended in many bottling plants in the state, including two in north Bengal, due to acute scarcity of rectified spirit.
Stocks of rectified spirit in many bottling plants located in Malda, Jalpaiguri's Birpara, Dankuni in Hooghly, Garbeta in Midnapore and other south Bengal districts have dried up.
Due to the suspension of CS production, vendors in many districts are facing a crisis regarding their ability to supply CS to consumers. The stock of CS will be exhausted within two to three days in vendors’ godowns.
In the last seven days, the bottlers have had to deliver CS to the district vendors on the basis of a ‘rationing system’ owing to the shortage of rectified spirit.
Since the first week of June, the state excise department has been trying hard to face the crisis but it has failed to resolve the problem owing to ‘internal’ difficulties in distillery houses in Uttar Pradesh.
Mr CR Das, commissioner of excise, has finally issued some fresh permits to import rectified spirit from Uttarakhand to meet the ongoing problem.
It may be noted that the excise department had issued permits for importing 11 lakh of rectified spirit from Uttar Pradesh in the first week of June but not a single drop of spirit arrived here.
“A racket is active outside the distillery house, who are demanding Rs 2 in tax per litre extra. Bottlers in West Bengal are facing problems concerning importing rectified spirit from there, because of these extra charges,” said Mr Saikat De, district secretary of the Malda Excise License Association. The government's approved country liquor manufacturers and bottlers used to only import rectified spirit from Uttar Pradesh and the department did not have any alternative arrangement when the crisis struck.
Facing difficulties in meeting demand for CS, vendors in Cooch Behar district met the excise officials today, demanding a solution to the ongoing problem.
The bottling plant for CS located at Birpara in Jalpaiguri used to supply CS to two districts including Cooch Behar but production has been suspended since yesterday. The consumption of CS in these two districts is nearly 6 lakh litres per month.
Similarly, the stock of rectified spirit of another bottling plant in Malda has been exhausted today and the plant was forced to suspend production. At present, the stock of CS bottles in its warehouse is only 35,000. The demand for CS bottles in Malda district is 13 lakh bottles per month.
Vendors in Malda, South Dinajpur and part of north Dinajpur depend on Malda's bottling plant and are anticipating facing problems within two to three days. Only one bottling plant at Siliguri in north Bengal is running but the production rate has been reduced.
The Malda district magistrate (DM), Mr Sridhar Ghosh, said: “We are keeping in touch with the excise commissioner to sort out the problem. The excise commissioner has already approached the bottling plant owners to bring rectified spirit from Uttarakhand to meet the crisis.”
“Though some bottlers in south Bengal have accepted the proposal, bottlers in north Bengal are demanding extra transportation costs to import the rectified spirit from Uttaranchal,” said Mr Ghosh.
“It is a natural and social problem, and if it continues, the habituated consumers belonging to the weaker sections will turn violent,” the DM added.
“The government should compensate for extra transportation costs incurred in importing the rectified spirit from Uttarakhand,” the members of the bottlers’ association said. The government's approved West Bengal Country Spirit Manufacturers and Bottlers’ Association is apprehending that if the crisis continues, the illicit liquor trade will begin flourishing in the state once again.
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