Guzzlers gulped Rs 6-cr liquor post Hudhud

Visakhapatnam: Millions mourned for those who died in the tragedy of Hudhud cyclone that devastated the city. Green cover was obliterated, houses were damaged, and thousands of power poles got uprooted and of all 35 human lives were lost.

People lit candle lights on the beach road led by the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and children organised deeparadhana in their residential colonies to ward off evil. But for the tipplers it was a different scenario. They gulped huge quantities of liquor as if the world was to come to an end.

Minutes after the Hudhud landed on coast, the city was shaking like leaf. In the aftermath of cyclone, even the hospitals were shut down.

``I came out of home to buy a bottle of water but I was surprised to find only liquor shops open where the people seen swarmed around,’’ recalls T Roy Prakash, a businessman from Adarshnagar. He said even there was no jostling to collect the free ration given by the government but there were queues in front of the liquor shops.

The sales did not stop then. It continued breaking all the previous records surprising the Excise Department officials who feared that the cyclone could cause the shortfall in the moth sales.

As the statistics showed it was found that October had actually recorded great business compared to the business done in the same month last year. According to estimates there was 4.05 per cent increase in the sales of liquor and around 1.5 per cent increase in the sales of beer in October compared to the same month of 2013 in Vizag city.

A total of 79,000 boxes of liquor (whisky, brandy, rum and vodka) and 70,000 boxes of beer were sold in the month of October in 2014 in city while the number was 76,500 and 69,000 respectively in the same month of 2013. Meanwhile 1, 50,400 boxes of liquor and 95,000 boxes of beer were sold in rural areas in October 2014 while the number was 1,47,500 cases and 81,000 cases respectively in the same month of previous year.

Excise Superintendent, Visakhapatnam, P Ramachandra Rao said the cyclone Hudhud had damaged the liquor outlets and depots. But, ironically there was no drop in liquor sales in Vizag city as well as other parts in the region. Excise Department got revenue of over Rs 95 crore in October-2014 through the sales of liquor and beer while the number was Rs 86 crore in the same month of previous year, he added

However the spurt in sale is being attributed to the people who came in large number from different parts of the country. Thousands of labourers who were engaged in clearing the garbage and cutting the tree trunks had spent a good part of their money on liquor, sources said.

Going by the October sales, the government has increased the target for the city by 20 per cent for the November month, the sources added.