Arunachal: WASE with police seizes illegally sold IMFL during dry day
PASIGHAT- ( By Maksam Tayeng ) The Women Against Social Evils (WASE) team with the cooperation of police seized several Indian Made Foreign Liquors (IMFL) bottles from various shops at Raneghat-Bodak-Ayeng tri-junction areas near Raneghat/Pasighat bridge on Thursday evening.
The checking drive were conducted by team WASE and police on getting tipoff from their internal sources wherein open selling of IMFL were reported during the dry days declared by the district administration during the period of end of the year and new year celebration in order to prevent drink and drive related accidents. Hundreds and thousands of IMFL bottles were recovered and seized from the jungle just beside the shops, as the shop owners had hidden those IMFL bottles in the jungle in order to avoid getting caught when checked.
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The team WASE led by its President, Yamik Dulom Darang and General Secretary, Joya Tasung Moyong had launched the drive of checking any illegal sale of IMFL on the last day of dry day on 5th January 2023, but seizures of several hundred IMFL bottles being sold illegally proves that the people were defying the District Administration’s ban or restriction of sale of IMFL from 28th December 2022 to 5th January 2023.
By the initiative of team WASE and the former Anti Drugs committee of ABKWW, the district administration has been declaring end of the year and new year as dry days where sales of IMFL are restricted. The dry day declaration was prompted owing to several cases of drunk-driving accidents and deaths in the past and as per team WASE and hospital sources of Bakin Pertin General Hospital, Pasighat the cases of drunk drive accidents got reduced after the implementation of dry day during the end and new year periods.
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However, on the other side, the team WASE and District Administration/Police need to rethink about the success and failure of the dry days. Despite the ban, the IFML are sold in black and illegally with higher rates. Knowing the dry day period in advance, the illegal sellers of IMFL buy stocks from the wholesaler in advance which are later sold in black at a high rate where the illegal seller earns huge profits.
And such illegal selling of IMFL during the dry days makes the dry day meaningless, as consumers of wines manage the IMFL and drunk driving accidents still take place. Hence, it is now a huge challenge for team WASE and district administration/police to regulate the open selling of IMFL during the dry days.
