The deaths of several people in the recent Ahmedabad hooch tragedy notwithstanding, the production and sale of country liquor in south Gujarat, especially along the coasts, is high.

Now the Sakhi Mandal, a women’s organisation, has taken upon itself the task of targeting the liquor dens and the bootleggers. On Sunday, around 35 members of the Sakhi Mandal of Valod taluka raided a country liquor distillery in an agricultural field in Dhariya village of Valod taluka in Surat. The women burnt down the den even as the bootlegger, identified as Amit Patel Praveen, escaped from the spot. Later the women informed the Valod police.

Sakhi Mandal leader Madhuben Choudhary said: “Distilleries are functioning even to this day and several litres of liquor are being dispatched to bootleggers. We had given enough time to the police, but now we will have to take action ourselves. The ban on liquor is only on paper. One can easily get liquor in south Gujarat. We are in contact with the Sakhi Mandal members of Valsad, Navsari and Tapi and have instructed them to conduct raids on liquor dens.”

As Dhariya village falls on the border of Bardoli and Valod talukas, officers from both Valod and the Bardoli police stations rushed to the spot and quarrelled over jurisdiction. With the intervention of senior officers, the matter was finally handed over to Valod police. The police seized some chemicals, inedible jaggery and 20 litres of country-made liquor from the spot. Valod Sub-Inspector A M Parmar said: “We are carrying out raids in those areas where liquor dens exist, but now the bootleggers keep shifting from one place to another and operate deep inside the fields, which makes it difficult for us to locate them. We have informed the Sakhi Mandal members to inform us and join us in such raids.”