THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Pinarayi Vijayan government is adding a little bit more rum to its liquor policy which professes temperance in a phased manner.
The government has given the Travancore Sugars and Chemicals Ltd, Thiruvalla, the go-ahead to open one more bottling line for its popular 'Jawan' Rum label to meet the soaring demand. With this, the number of lines will go up from three to four. Production will go up from 1.5 lakh cases a month to two lakh cases, a senior officer at the state government undertaking said. (One case equals nine one-litre bottles).
''We are not able to meet the demand at the current rate of production,'' Alex P Abraham, general manager, TSCL. 'Bottling lines' are essentially production lines where the rum is filled into the bottles on a large scale. TSCL supplies the rum to the Kerala State Beverages Corporation (Bevco) which holds the monopoly on liquor sales in the state.
Through a GO issued last week, the government decided to increase the bottling lines after the MD, TSCL, pointed out that there was a huge demand for the relatively cheaper Jawan Deluxe Rum. It was also pointed out that no additional financial burden would descend on the government on account of the new bottling line. It was in June 2017 that the TSCL applied to the government to open the new bottling line. Excise Commissioner Rishiraj Singh okayed the proposal in early July this year. Interestingly, the decision to ramp up rum sales has come at a time when the LDF government is facing heat over an alleged move to allow new distilleries.
For decades, rum, a distilled beverage made from molasses, had remained the staple of the Malayali tippler. But by 2015, brandy had pipped rum for the top post. For instance, in June this year, Bevco sold a little over 7.32 lakh cases while brandy accounted for 8.63 lakh cases. Rum sells more in southern Kerala, but the northern districts largely root for brandy.