‘How long will smashing bottles go on?’
Morung Express News
Dimapur | June 19
Illicit liquor estimated to be worth over Rs. 60 lakhs was destroyed in Dimapur on June 19. The disposed liquor cache containing 1770 cases of assorted IMFL brands was confiscated by the Assam Rifles from a makeshift warehouse in the 3rd Mile area of Dimapur earlier in May.
While no person linked to the seized contraband was arrested a police case was registered under the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act.
The destruction was carried out as per a magisterial order passed after the investigation officer of the case sought "pre-trial destruction" of the impounded liquor citing nauseating odour, space constraint at the Police Station "Malkhana" and the risk of pilferage while in storage.
District Administration officials, police, Assam Rifles personnel, representatives from the legal fraternity and the Naga Women Hoho Dimapur (NWHD) were on site to witness the destruction conducted at the Municipal waste dumping ground.
While the state Excise and the police man the inter-state checkposts with Assam, liquor supply into the state remains strong keeping the state well stocked in duty-free IMFL. It also entails that certain consignments get caught, which eventually end up being disposed haphazardly and unscientifically at landfills or at waste disposal sites.
NWHD president, Nungshirenla brought this up at the destruction site today questioning the logic of such an exercise and more so, the sincerity of the enforcement agencies manning the checkposts.
"I feel that this exercise is useless. While we are at it we also have to ask where it is leading to,” she commented, while terming it as “almost a drama and a waste of time.”
She said that first and foremost, the people entrusted with the job of manning checkposts should ensure that liquor is not allowed in. Further, she said that it is a loss economy-wise, pointing to the money and work-hours spent on conducting such events, not to mention the impact on the environment. "How long will smashing bottles go on?"
