A spurious liquor racket in the heart of Margao is more than just an embarrassment. That it was functioning quite smoothly and had evaded detection does not speak highly of the state excise department or the police. The racket was exposed by the Maharashtra Excise, which conducted a raid under the nose of the State excise department, which remained in the dark and out of reach to the media. The tip off came after two persons, who were arrested in Thana, Mumbai spilled the beans. This resulted in the raid and the arrest of three persons in Margao. A deeper probe in underway to ascertain how the accused got access to cartoons and bottle caps. The effort to search and find spurious liquor manufacturers is a continuous process. It was supposedly made easy when 22 states made it mandatory for legitimate manufacturers to use QR codes and holograms on bottles as a mark of authenticity. Sadly, Goa remains behind the rest of the country in implementing this directive, as a result of which illegal units proliferate. The raid is an eye opener for the State government and the excise department which has to pull up its socks. The source of packaging material used by the Margao unit needs to be traced and illegal units ferreted out and shut down before an untoward incident occurs.
