Tipplers switch to ‘arishtam’

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
9 Sep 2010

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the Kuttippuram hooch tragedy has spurred the Excise Department to go all out against spurious liquor and toddy in the district, tipplers are gulping down a seemingly-innocuous Ayurvedic tonic by the bottlesful to get that added ‘kick’ - ‘Arishtam.’
The USP of ‘arishtam’ is that it’s cheap and doesn’t have the social stigma attached to it as does toddy, despite it having more alcoholic content than toddy.
As the free flow of illicit liquor has been affected owing to the frequent inspections by the Excise, many tipplers in the district seem to be shifting their favour towards ayurvedic tonics (‘arishtam’), Excise officials confirm. While the permissible alcohol content in toddy is only 8.1 percent, in ‘arishtam’ it could go up to 12 percent. Moreover, ‘arishtam’ is cheaper than toddy.
Excise officials, who confirm that ‘alcoholic arishtams’ are now widely available in the district, also point out that about 1,572 litres of ‘arishtam’ was seized by the Excise in a special drive held during Onam between July 21 and August 31. “Alcoholic arishtam is in demand mainly in the rural parts of the district like Neyyattinkara, Balaramapuram and Chirayinkeezhu,’’ Excise officials said.
Meanwhile, the 112-odd toddy shops in the district would struggle to meet the demand in the days ahead with the Excise intensifying enforcement against the supply of illicit liquor in the wake of the Kuttippuram tragedy.
Owing to the shortage of toddy, already, nearly 40 toddy shops in the district are defunct. On an average, at least 50 litres of toddy are required for a toddy shop daily and hence 3,000 litres of genuine toddy is required in the city each day. The major chunk of the so-called ‘toddy’ being supplied in the district comes from other districts like Palakkad.
‘’It is not only the urge of the toddy shop licencees to earn more profit that leads to the mixing of spirit and illicit liquor with toddy, but also the demand of the customers to get an extra kick,” Excise Department sources said.
Excise Deputy Commissioner in Thiruvananthapuram K A Joseph said that as a result of the constant vigil of the Excise Department, the flow of illicit liquor to the district could be checked considerably. He also maintained that none of the toddy shops functioning in the district are supplying spurious toddy.
“We have beefed up the enforcement at all the 15 checkposts in the district bordering Tamil Nadu. Even a sniffer dog is being pressed into service. Moreover, frequent checks are conducted at the toddy shops. The enforcement has been intensified in the wake of the Malappuram tragedy,“ he said.
arjun_raghunath@expressbuzz.com