Novel move to wean Ayodhya hooch makers off trade

Families from 40 villages infamous for hooch making have been invited for placement on the basis of skills

LUCKNOW: Instead of brandishing the baton, police in Ayodhya district have come up with a novel idea to provide livelihood to people involved in illicit liquor trade and wean them off it.

The Ayodhya police and administration have planned a ‘Rozgar Mela’ (job fair) especially for people involved in the manufacture of illicit liquor for decades and their family members, on March 1, said Ayodhya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashish Tewari.

He said all the families of around 40 villages – infamous for illicit liquor manufacture – have been invited to the fair, in which eight companies from three sectors — security, insurance and marketing — will offer them placement on the basis of their skills and qualification.

“We are expecting over 1,000 people to participate in the job fair and it will be a life-changing time for people who have never thought of coming out of manufacturing illicit liquor,” the SSP said.

Tewari said that these 40 villages are located under Cantt, Maharajganj and Kumarganj police station limits of the district and families have been involved in illicit liquor manufacture for the past five decades. He said the main earning members of these houses were arrested several times in the past but they did not change their profession as they had no other option to earn livelihood.

He said that there was tough competition between families involved in manufacturing illicit liquor and often they would get involved in scuffles over business interests.

He said many villagers borrowed money from moneylenders

› Police and district admn decided to provide them a chance to earn their livelihood and shun this illegal business, following which the job fair has been planned ASHISH TEWARI, Ayodhya SSP

to survive, while crime and violence had become commonplace even as education and employment opportunities were poor.

“Poverty, unemployment and illiteracy is the main reason for the hooch business flourishing in these villages,” said the SSP, adding, “People who managed to get some employment outside the village, their families stopped doing this business, while others continued to do the same business”.

“Knowing and understanding all this, the police as well as the district administration decided to provide them an opportunity to earn their livelihood and shun this illegal business, following which the job fair has been planned,” the SSP said, while expressing gratitude to Ayodhya district magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha for helping arrange a job fair.

The SSP said that as many as 160 people have been arrested in 125 cases registered in the three police stations in the past eight months and over 1,000 litres of illicit liquor have been seized. In addition, over 1 lakh litres of raw material has been destroyed in this period.