Onam, which Keralites proudly describe as their ‘national festival’, is believed to be a celebration of prosperity but a good section of them seems to believe that this prosperity must flow from booze bottles. This belief, perhaps, is what causes the steady rise Kerala witnesses in the sale and consumption of liquor during Onam season year after year.
Keralites have refused to digress from that path they have set for themselves this year also: The State has set a new record in the sale and consumption of liquor on Onam this year, the full celebration of which will be over only by Thursday.
This increase has occurred just when the Opposition parties are preparing to launch massive agitations against the CPI(M)-led lDF Government’s liberal liquor policy which has already led to the opening of new bars and liquor outlets apart from the reopening of several such vending centers that had remained closed for over the past two years,
Keralites guzzled liquor worth Rs 114.29 crore on the two days when Onam celebrations peak, the Uthradam and Thiruvonam days, which fell respectively on Sunday and Monday this year. The liquor sale during these two days of Onam last year was worth Rs 90.37 crore which meant the sales saw a leap by Rs 24 crore.
On Uthradam day this season, the liquor sales in the State touched Rs 71.17 crore and on Thiruvonam, the sales were worth Rs 43.12 crore. The sales figures for these days were Rs 51.51 crore and Rs 38.86 crore last year and this meant that this year the State saw increases by Rs 19.66 crore and Rs 4.66 crore respectively. There has also been a massive increase in the sale of liquor during the eleven (usually ten) days of Onam festival, starting with Atham, which fell on August 25 this year. The liquor sale from the Atham day till Uthradam this year stood at Rs 440.61 crore whereas the same for the corresponding period last year was Rs 411.14 crore. This also is a record.
The total liquor sale during the 14-day festival season (15 this year) is expected to set yet another record when the turnover for the Avittam (Tuesday) and Poororuttathi (Thursday) are available. The volume of and revenue from the sale of liquor during the Onam season have shown steady increase in Kerala every passing year.
The biggest sale of liquor at a single retail outlet on Uthradam day was recorded at the shop of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco), the State-run monopoly liquor distributor, at Irinjalakuda, Thrissur at Rs 87 lakh. This outlet itself was had topped in liquor sale for the past several Onam festivals and last year this had stood at Rs 58 lakh for Uthradam day.
According to Bevco sources, the liquor sale this season witnessed such a leap because of the increase in outflow through its retail shops and warehouses. The reopening of several bars and retail outlets that had remained closed following the former Congress-led UDF’s pro-Prohibition liquor policy and a Supreme Court order on distance limit from highways also contributed to it.
During the Onam season last year, bars had been functioning in the State only at 30 five-star hotels and 24 clubs of elites. New bars opened recently at 76 three-star hotels as per the new Government’s policy. Anti-liquor crusaders say the leap in liquor sale this Onam is directly linked to the opening of new liquor vending centers. There were a total of 730 bars in Kerala before 418 of them were closed down on March 31, 2014 for lack of the required facilities.
All the remaining bars, except those at five-star hotels and elite clubs, went out of operation as per the UDF’s liquor policy. Also, several retail outlets were closed down as per the ten-per-cent-a-year cut in such shops announced by the former regime.
The present CPI(M)-led Government had started implementing its liberal liquor policy on July 1 last and 77 bars that were closed during the former UDF rule reopened that day in addition to permitting the bars at 30 five-star hotels and 24 elite clubs – that had not been closed even after implementation of the previous liquor policy – to continue operation.
With the Onam liquor sale showing a record increase, the anti-liquor crusaders of the UDF, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council and other organizations have renewed their argument that the only way to control boozing is to reduce availability. “The lDF is Government is determined to defeat that objective,” said a UDF leader.