Inspectors to be armed with revolvers

Miffed at the recent incident of moonshiners attacking him during a raid, the minister told reporters here on Saturday that the Excise Act would be amended to book illicit liquor brewers under the Goonda Act.

Renukacharya and a team of officials were pelted with stones by bootleggers when they tried to raid an illicit liquor manufacturing unit in Kharvi village in Belgaum taluk recently.

Corporator blamed

Renukacharya charged Lakshman, husband of a Congress corporator in Belgaum City Corporation, with running the illicit liquor unit in Kharvi. He alleged that several politicians too were involved in the business.

“When the team tried to raid the unit at Kharvi, hundreds of bootleggers, mostly aged women, started throwing stones at us. Besides, they stoned beehives in the nearby trees and forced us to return. Some of them were armed with lethal weapons,” he said adding that directions had been issued to arrest all those responsible for the incident.

Like Kharvi, there are a number of places, including Gangwadi and Basankolla in Belgaum district, where large-scale illicit liquor manufacturing is rampant.

The department has identified about 1,500 illicit liquor brewing units across the State. Strict instructions have been issued to the officials to raid them. Local officers will be held responsible for any inaction, he warned.