That's exactly how it is in Surat, where some localities boast of more tipplers than teetotalers, to which police officers wrangle returns soon after being posted elsewhere and where bootleggers have some of the most ingenious tricks up their sleeve to hoodwink the authorities.

Scores of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation buses plying between the city and such places as Khajod, Budhiav, Gabheni, Lawachha, Pinjrat and Olpad allegedly bring in not only passengers, but quantities of country liquor, on which the economy of these coastal villages hinge.

According to sources, there is no way drivers and conductors working the routes can bar anyone including liquor-carriers from boarding the buses as they are not authorised to do so. Some personnel allegedly share the spoils, but most look the other way. The few who protest are either browbeaten or simply beaten up; three cases of assaults on drivers are currently pending in the courts.

Sources in the know say that if the trade has flourished, it has to be with the collusion of enforcement agencies, be it the police or the prohibition squad. ``Motorbike-borne policemen escort these buses (to ensure their more conscientous counterparts don't stop the vehicle before its destination)'', alleges an office-bearer of the ST Karmachari Union.

Ironically, while prohibition has had little impact on bootleggers, the constitution of a separate enforcement agency has theoretically split the spoils, and encouraged back-stabbing between the police and prohibition squad.

The STKU agrees that the formation of a separate force has set the prohibition personnel against the police. ``They are blaming us for their inefficiency and corrupt ways'', says an office-bearer on condition of anonymity while giving details of the property amassed by senior Prohibition officials.

The rivalry is said to be precisely what led to the confiscation of liquor from an GSRTC bus and the arrest of its driver and conductor last week. This also set the prohibition squad on the collision course with the GSRTC. The spark was provided by M G Kaneriya, Superintendent of the Striking Force, who accused union office-bearers of being hand-in-glove with route drivers and conductors for a share of the spoils. The union, expectedly, has retorted in kind: ``Some carriers get down right in front of the multi-storyed administration headquarters in Nanpura, which also houses the police commissioner's office. Police escort buses to protect them from raids''.

Says a union office-bearer, ``We can't check the passengers' baggage; nor can we afford to pick up fights with the carriers.'' Suggests another, ``Perhaps policemen could be posted in these villages to screen passengers before they board the buses''.

The union has given the police department 10 days to station personnel in the branded coastal villages. ``If they don't do so, we'll withdraw our drivers from these routes'', they threaten, adding, ``We also plan to take to the streets and file a defamation case against Kaneria for his baseless allegations''.

GSRTC Divisional Controller N B Patel has also written to the State government about the allegations levelled by the prohibition police.

If it needs to, the State government can take solace from the fact that buses are not the bootleggers' favoured means of transport. A railway official admits that liquor is transported in large quantity via trains, but passes the buck to the railway police. ``We pass on the complaints to railway police. Our job ends there'', he told Express Newsline.