It's booze & biriyani time: Cops get busy watching Tamil Nadu borders

TRICHY/ CHENNAI: One cannot think about elections without talking about ‘quarter and biriyani’, that too in a state like Tamil Nadu, where the government runs primarily on revenues from Tasmac (liquor) outlets. With the Lok Sabha elections less than a month away, the demand to source and stock liquor has picked up.

One major destination to source liquor for northern districts of Tamil Nadu is Puducherry, where it’s cheaper. This puts Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) personnel in Nagapattinam and Karaikal under pressure, as bootlegging operations spike. But, bootleggers know all the bylanes to avoid the manned checkposts.

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The border with Andhra Pradesh is porous too. Smugglers become more active in and around Arambakkam, Uthukottai and Chittoor. “Though liquor is priced higher in Andhra Pradesh than in Puducherry, the state offers a wide choice of brands to choose from,” said an AIADMK leader, who had fought elections earlier from the region.

Anticipating the stocking of liquor with elections scheduled on April 18, the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) has a new rule: not to sell more than 1litre of liquor at a time to an individual. “When most of the bars attached to the Tasmac outlets are run by those close to the ruling party, such controls hardly matter,” said a BJP functionary in Tiruvallur district.

Police said bootleggers prefer liquor in plastic packets or 180ml bottles for ease of transport in a sack or a single carton. Retailing it also becomes less cumbersome and handy. “The next two-three weeks will be crucial for us. We have strengthened the checkposts on the Tamil Nadu border to inspect all vehicles round the clock,” a police officer with the PEW told TOI.

“Stocking and supplying liquor used to be a practice earlier. Now, hardly anyone does it. With so much checking of vehicles and this being a general election, restrictions in sourcing will be there on the other side too. It is no longer worth the effort. From our side, we give away daily expenses for people participating in campaigns. While the women take that money home, some of the men may take it to Tasmac outlets,” a candidate, busy preparing campaign plan for Perambur assembly bypoll, told TOI.

Another bypoll candidate in Tiruvallur district feels liquor comes into play more for local body polls than general elections. “For food, especially biriyani, we source it locally. Liquor is mostly the focus during local body polls, where starting from the panchayat president to councillor, they will individually source and supply it to their support group,” said the candidate for the Poonamallee assembly bypoll.

But, for many candidates who are not ready to reveal strategies, liquor is definitely a bait – to lure crowds for public meetings and to get cadres to toil for them.