Gone are the days when bootleggers would pay a fixed amount to the police and rest assured about an interrupted business of country-made liquor or the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The increased pressure from senior police officers have not only ensured a major drop in the bootleggers' business but has also brought a significant change in the pattern of paying the hafta.
The collection of money from bootleggers has become irregular, it can be daily, weekly or monthly, depending upon the situation. "Before the hooch tragedy, when bootleggers in Ahmedabad were operating with lot of freedom, they would collect a fixed amount from each area that was paid to policemen as hafta," a police source told DNA. Now, the money is collected mainly on weekly basis and in smaller instalments. Besides, the turnover of the bootlegger concerned is also considered while deciding the hafta amount.
Sources said theses days the share of senior officials in the hafta collected from bootleggers has become almost negligible and the amount is mainly pocketed by constables, police sub-inspectors and, in some cases, the inspector-rank officers.
The sources also said the amount of hafta collection keeps changing these days. "There is a marked change in the manner in which hafta is collected. There is no longer a standard method or specific pattern to collect money from bootleggers, which was the practice in earlier days," the sources said.
The amount collected from a bootlegger depends on his or her way of operating. "It varies between Rs100 and Rs1,000 per day," the police sources said, adding that, "there is no fixed amount or time for paying the hafta, bootleggers have to pay whenever the policemen go to their dens."
For example, if someone is selling illicit liquor without informing the police and if the police found liquor from his place, he will have to pay quite a hefty amount for not registering his name with the police. Of course, he will have to start paying hafta regularly to the police from there on.
A senior police officer, however, said there was no hafta collection from bootleggers in the city. "There is no liquor being sold in any part of the city. If we get any such report, we will immediately conduct raids and stop the sale of illicit liquor," he said.
Even though the top police officials claim a complete ban on sale of liquor in the city, there are people who believe the business has not completely stopped and is going on in a more discreet manner, and also at a much lower scale. The country liquor is, however, easily available in the city.
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