: In a move that is not likely to go down well with tipplers, the government has decided to shut down most toddy shops in the State. If things go as per the government’s plans, Mumbai may soon be left with only two toddy shops.
As per a recent Government Resolution (GR) issued by the Excise Department, areas which do not grow palm (toddy) trees cannot sell toddy. The department had even conducted a census of palm trees across the State and following this decided to allot one toddy shop per 1,000 palm trees.
The census report reveals that while Mumbai city has no palm tree, the suburbs have 2,528 such trees which mean only two toddy shops can be operated in Mumbai, and that too in the suburbs.
“All existing toddy shops in Mumbai have been shut down. Across the State, out of 1,250 over 850 shops have been shut down. We have found materials such as sleeping pill powder and other chemicals that are hazardous to health in the toddy samples ,” according to Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the State Excise Minister. As per the new rules, tenders will be floated in Mumbai only for two toddy shops.
The excise department also decided to ban toddy sales in areas that do not grow toddy. It has issued orders to cancel all toddy shops in Mumbai, Pune and rest of Maharashtra except Kokan region as there are toddy trees.
In a recent survey the excise department found that these shops were selling a deadly cocktail of chemicals in the name of toddy. It found massive quantities of chemicals such as chloral hydrate and alprazolam in toddy sold by depots even in urban areas such as Mumbai, Pune, Solapur, and Nanded, among others.
As per the government census of palm trees, Sindhudurg has the highest number with 15.54 lakh trees, while Ratnagiri ranks second with 7.77 lakh, followed by Palghar with 5.74 lakh trees.
The existing policy permits toddy-tappers from a particular taluka to open up shops in other areas in the district but the new policy will prohibit this. New rules mandate that the license of new shop in a certain tehsil will not be given to an outsider and cannot be transferred to a different tehsil.
Published - November 11, 2016 02:51 am IST
