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Rajesh Moudgil
CHHOTAUDEPUR, Sept 16: Whisky costs between Rs 180 and Rs 400; rum is slightly more expensive. A bottle of beer sells for Rs 70. If a bottle's too much, go in for a peg at just Rs 15. Ice and chilled water comes in free; a lashing of soda sets you back by Rs 5. Snacks, salads or khara-seeng-dana etc are all extra, but the two large-screen television sets are at your disposal. Just lie back in your cushioned chair and sip your drink... enjoy, as they say on TV.
And you can do so safely, in at least five bars that have sprouted in Chhotaudepur and Jetpurpavi town in the recent past; at least 10 other places act as retail outlets.
The bar at Jhanda Chowk is arguably the best, fitted out with four serving tables and cushioned chairs. During a visit on Wednesday, Express Newsline found it easily enough. There are no guards at the entrance to bar the way, no identity-cards to show, no passwords to give. Only a couple of bouncers lurk in the background, but they don't mind being ignored.
You could, in fact, forget that this is a dry State, that there's a Prohibition department and a police force working to enforce the law. If it isn't too difficult, it's only because, according to sources, your drinking partners may include representatives of the two law-enforcing agencies themselves.
Some come here for a quick drink, others like to linger. Among the regulars are policemen, home guards, officials and youths and businessmen from nearby towns, including Vadodara. The same crowd, in fact, that one would expect to find in a New Delhi or Mumbai pub. Except, of course, that neither metropolis is under prohibition.
They talk freely enough to Express Newsline, albeit on condition of anonymity. The Daman-Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh liquor chain has never been under threat, they say, but maintain that the bars are a recent development. ``Not every one can drink at home or somewhere else. These bars cater to that section of tipplers'', says a Vadodara-based businessman, adding that he would spend the night there.
Though the entire operation is under covers, there are no cloaks and daggers involved. No one in authority denies that liquor flows smooth and easy in the backwaters of the State. Local Congress and BJP leaders, including Naransinh Rathwa and Ramsinh Rathwa and their minions, allege that poor policing is encouraging the clandestine liquor business. District Superintendent of Police Vivek Shrivastava and Prohibition department head M A Gandhi point to the seizure of liquor worth Rs 50,000 every month in the Chhotaudepur region.
Interestingly, the district accounts for seizures of Indian made foreign liquor and country liquor worth Rs 10 lakhs every year!
If local officials and authorities express no surprise at the news, Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya makes no attempt to disguise his shock. ``This is impossible. Give me a day or two, and I'll ensure the shops are shut down, that too, for ever. How can this happen. I'm sorry to even learn of such a thing!'', he says.
And he ends by adding, ``Could you give the police the address?'' There seems to be a communication gap somewhere...
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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