Kamaripet. This over-crowded, seedy colony in the heart of Hubli was once a notorious place for the manufacture and sale of spurious liquor. The bootleggers ran a parallel excise network in the area and no police or excise officials ever dared to enter it let alone conduct raids on illegal units. Perhaps they did not want to as they enjoyed a cosy relationship with the bootlegging mafia.

For a number of years, it almost ran like a cottage industry. Tankers filled with rectified spirit came from many states including Madhya Pradesh, crossing all check posts along the way without being stopped. Most of the houses in the colony had cement tanks to store the rectified spirit.

Once the brew was ready, it would be bottled and packed with fake security seals and labels of all major distillery companies, before being transported to wine shops across the state and even outside.

This cottage industry received a deadly blow during the S M Krishna government when it decided to come hard on it. The government posted K V Gagandeep as police commissioner and B R Ravikanthe Gowda as deputy commissioner of police (law and order) to Hubli-Dharwad Commissionerate of Police.

They conducted a series of raids and closed down almost all fake liquor manufacturing units in the area. The seizure of spurious liquor run into several crores of rupees, which indicated the amount of business turnover from this small place.

The entry of the rectified spirit from other states was stopped and the kingpins were put behind bars under the Goonda Act.

Although some miscreants tried to create law and order problem in the area to divert attention of police, it was strongly dealt with by the police. All the successive police commissioners have maintained the pressure, virtually putting an end to this industry in Kamaripet.

But it sprung up in the surrounding areas of Hubli and Dharwad. The police unearthed an underground unit in a farm house on the outskirts of the city where the manufacture of spurious liquor was on. It was immediately shut down.

According to Hubli-Dharwad City Police Commissioner Narayan Nadmani, more than 90 per cent of the illicit business has now been stopped. The excise revenue increased as soon as police tightened their grip on all illegal manufacturing units. The revenue, which was in lakhs of rupees for many years, has now touched around Rs 4 crore annually.

Forces to enforce the ban
* A state enforcement directorate headed by an IG of police
* Separate police stations in each of 175 taluks
* 3,500 new vehicles
* 4,829 new posts to check bootlegging
* 1,500 additional posts from guards to joint commissioners
* An excise control room in Bangalore