P’ment discusses effects of artificial toddy; Minister commissions report

• Government loses over Rs. 80 b annually due to artificial toddy racket

The discourse on the impacts of artificial toddy racketeers on Sri Lanka’s socio-economic fabric continued in Parliament end last week, with State Minister Nivard Cabraal revealing in Parliament that he had requested the Secretary to the Treasury and the Department of Excise to submit a report with regards to queries raised in the House. 

State Minister Cabraal revealed that in 2019, a total of 3,024 toddy tappers had obtained licenses, whilst 32 institutions had obtained licenses to manufacture toddy. Bottled toddy producers and tappers had approved production capacity based on the expected yield as per the number of trees licensed for tapping, he added. 

SJB Parliamentarian Buddhika Pathirana noted a single coconut tree yielded 1.5 litres of toddy a day, based on environmental and periodical factors. Accordingly, authorities could estimate the volume of toddy licensed for production, he said. 

Raids often yielded 60-to-70,000 litres more than the estimated volume, and therein lay the artificial toddy racket, Pathirana said.

State Minister Cabraal noted there were reports of water, sugar and yeast being added to produce toddy, which was corroborated by Pathirana, and the latter remarked that whilst this could lead to an increase of 500 to 1,000 litres, excessive volumes such as 70,000 litres could only be achieved by means of illicit and unsafe production methods employing dangerous products such as urea, ammonia and ethanol. 

Pathirana added his electorate of Matara had only 11 excise officials and they were unable to handle the volume of complaints and investigations that reached their desk. 

He said whilst the STF and the Police did an admirable job of conducting raids on illicit liquor outlets, these efforts were wasted as judicial proceedings were left in the hands of the Excise Department, which was not effective in handling this matter.

He called for Sections 48, 50 and 52 of the Excise Ordinance to be amended to give wider powers to the Police and STF in this regard. He noted it was unfair that Excise officials reap rewards for the hard work of the Police and STF. 

Pathirana also said artificial toddy racketeers were exerting influence and pressure on Treasury officials to do away with the system of calculating toddy volumes based on trees listed to conceal their volumes. He stated the current structure of calculation must be maintained to ensure transparency. 

State Minister Cabraal said he would look into all these factors following the report. It was reported in Parliament that the Government loses over Rs. 80 billion annually due to the artificial toddy racket in the country.