Hindustan Times, January 8, 2001
Liquor smuggling rises at an alarming rate in Faridabad
HT Correspondent
(Faridabad, January 7)
LIQUOR SMUGGLING in Faridabad, and from here into Delhi, rose at an alarming rate last year. This legacy of the days of prohibition in Haryana continues unabated.
Information collected by The Hindustan Times shows that in 1997, during the hey-days of prohibition, the Faridabad police had booked 2,114 cases of liquor smuggling under the Excise Act. After prohibition was lifted in 1998, the number of cases booked dwindled to 674, showing a fall by 68 per cent. But in 1999, the number of cases of violation of the Excise Act, increased by about 20 per cent to 817.
However, the year 2000 saw a sudden spurt in liquor smuggling by over 103 per cent, with the police registering 1,748 cases, just a little short of the scenario in 1997.
In 2000, the Faridabad police confiscated over 5 lakh bottles and pouches of country-made liquor, 4000 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor plus a large quantity of lahan and other intoxicants.
Most of the country-made liquor is smuggled into Faridabad from UP and Rajasthan, where illicit distillation is done.
Country-made liquor is packed in plastic bottles or pouches and then smuggled into Faridabad and from here into the capital. Collusion of the police and the liquor mafia cannot be ruled out.
People from Delhi go to Faridabad for liquor, since they can get brands of their choice, be it the dry days or odd hours.
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