NALGONDA/KHAMMAM/MAHBUBNAGAR: Tipplers in Andhra Pradesh love Telangana. Particularly those who live in villages near the Telangana border.
The reason: Liquor is available aplenty in Telangana and at affordable rates.
Besides, all brands are available, unlike in their hometowns.
Liquor shops in erstwhile Khammam, Nalgonda, and Mahbubnagar districts near the AP border have become beehives.
As wine shops are shut in AP by 8 pm, devotees of Bacchus make the great crossing on auto-rickshaws.
After enjoying great moments of bliss, they return home content. They don’t use their vehicles as the police are watching them like hawks, to catch those driving under the influence of alcohol.
In erstwhile Nalgonda district, by the fall of evening, people from AP reach Kodad and spend happy hours there.
It’s the town of their choice as it’s on the national highway and reaching the source of bliss is not very difficult. Though villages bordering Wadapally and Nagarjuna Sagar in Telangana are not as easy to reach, tipplers take the perilous journey there too, all for the reward.
Cash registers of the wine shops have been ringing with money flowing in like a floodtide from AP, though dealers are reluctant to admit this. Some people from AP who wanted to make a quick buck tried smuggling liquor into their state but were caught with about 250 bottles by the ever-watchful excise staff.
Gadwal district too has been experiencing a rush of tipplers, but here it is Rayalseema visitors who come down for a drink. Liquor shops in Alampur, Pullur and Undavalli mandals are doing brisk business. Boozers are foraying into Gadwal district as transportation cost is just a pittance — Rs 10 to reach by share auto.
“It is but natural for the residents of Kurnool district to visit Gadwal to savour their choice of drink. As a result, liquor sales have gone up by 15 to 20 per cent in recent times. We have kept a watch on the sale of liquor in the district, and action will be taken if wine-shop owners jack up the prices considering the spike in demand,” said Alampur excise circle inspector Patel Bhanot.
(Inputs from A Seshacharyulu, B Satyanarayana Reddy and A Amrutha Rao)