Blame it on poor monitoring by the excise department or the get-quick-rich attitude of toddy operators, the sale of adulterated toddy continues unabated in the district . What is shocking is that this illegal activity is in progress with due patronage of the excise officials.
It may be noted that 45 people fell sick in Kallakkal village in Medak district and 42 in Nizamabad district after consuming illicit liquor. Reacting to these incidents the state government directed officials to take action those shops selling adulterated toddy.
The special task force team visited Adilabad district and conducted raids on liquor shops in Khanapur and Nirmal mandals recently and seized 721 kg of chloroform from the shops and filed cases. They collected the samples and sent for testing to Hyderabad. The lab results showed there were high doses of choloroform in the toddy sold from these shops.
The unbridled use of chloral hydrate, diazepam or alprazolam makes one so addicted to the man-made toddy that if the consumer misses his daily dose, withdrawal symptoms surface so severely that it needs hospitalisation. With instances of people falling sick after consuming adulterated toddy in Medak district recently, excise officials were learnt to have issued a warning to toddy makers to stop selling toddy with the high addictives. Though only 143 shops have permission to sell toddy across the district in the district more than 700 shops were selling toddy. Toddy shops are operating against the government norms but the excise officials by taking bribes were simply looking the other way.