Other than beer, any country tipple or IMFL brand can be imbibed any time in Gujarat depending on personal preferences. But, whatever is bought must be finished in one go and it is risky to commit the 'crime' of 'storing' even a peg or two.

 

Close to 150 deaths occurred in the four government hospitals in Ahmedabad, while another 150 of the thousands of regular tipplers lie in a hopeless condition. The death toll, according to the grapevine, has already crossed 300, counting all the deaths at private hospitals, where five times as many could afford to go.
 
Hari Om has been named as prime suspect responsible for the mega tragedy, it is said, in order to protect the real culprits managing the supply chain. Gujarat is the only ‘totally dry’ state in India and boozing and liquor sales are considered criminal offences here. Gujarat’s political bigwigs, transcending party lines, have been vociferously holding on to the moral high ground in deference to ‘Mahatma’ Gandhi, a Gujarati lawyer-politician, the father of the nation. Interestingly, every other state has dumped the law which was enacted in the 19th century by colonial masters for the ‘primitive natives’ who, they thought, were too ignorant and uncultured to manage liquor.

 
Complicating the crisis faced by the State’s bootleggers due to lack of lawyers for baling them out of offences booked under Prohibition Act and Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act (PASA), are superannuation plans of one more retired high court judge. Ex-justice Kamal Mehta has apparently been rewarded by the State government for his cooperation with political masters during his active career with the chairmanship of a four--member probe committee. It is tasked with discovering the ‘root causes of the tragedy’, which must be crystal clear to even the most dumb-headed. The Commission will spur the demand for booze lawyers to make representations. Although Mehta has officially been given only till Nov 30 to finish the job, such commissions usually get numerous extensions. They generate useless desk jobs and contribute to the busy practice of scores of lawyers, till the sinecure dignitary gets too senile to continue.
 
Consumption of alcoholic beverages – whether ‘potlis’ (country stuff in pouch) costing Rs 10 or ‘batlis’ (bottles) of premier XXX rum costing over Rs 1000 – is perhaps the maximum in ‘dry’ Gujarat compared to other States. The only scarce commodity is beer because it is more paying to transport a bottle of any other drink for the same ‘mall’ (bribe) payable.
 
According to the ‘Gandhian’ masters who wink at mega frauds and cold-blooded murders, only criminals drink even mildly alcoholic drinks like beer. The high consumption is quite understandable as the State ranks at the top in per capita income and people imbibe any IMFL brand or locally brewed stuff, depending on personal preferences. (This writer, who has enjoyed every one of them as and when he liked during three decades, can vouch for that!) But, whatever is bought has to be finished in one go as it could be risky to commit the second crime of ‘storing’ even a peg or two.
 
The most vexing defect with the ‘Gandhian’ policy of teetotalism is that the manufacturing units cannot have systematic control over processes of brewing and blending. They are not permitted to stay in one place to be able to set up systems.
 
Another problem is there is no one to complain to in case of adulteration or poor quality of the stuff. A routine tippler was quoted in a TV channel: “We have often complained to the Odhav police but they did not take any action because they get ‘hafta’ (kickbacks). There have been instances when the cops have threatened the complainants!” The 70-odd ‘watering holes’ in Odhav are simply not supposed to exist. No wonder, prices are probably the highest to account for such unofficial ‘taxes’, which are shared from peons to the top echelons, oops, legislators and ministers.