Kerala Opposition leader alleges corruption in Cabinet nod for global liquor major’s manufacturing units in Palakkad
The Hindu
Kerala's Opposition Leader accuses government of corruption in awarding liquor manufacturing permits, endangering environment and livelihoods in Palakkad.
Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Thursday (January 16, 2025) said he suspected that “corruption” motivated the Cabinet to allow a global liquor major to establish manufacturing units in Palakkad district.
In a statement here, Mr. Satheesan said that Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting had “surreptitiously” awarded Oasis Commercial Private Limited sanction to set up an ethanol plant, multi-feed distillation unit, Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) liquor bottling facility, and brandy/winery unit in the district.
He termed the “behind-the-scenes and unilateral” award as “norm-breaking” and contravening existing rules. Mr. Satheesan said corruption had motivated the government to favour a particular firm for the multi-crore venture.
Mr. Satheesan demanded that the government publicly disclose the criteria for awarding such permits to private liquor firms and why it selected a single company without inviting expressions of intent from other competing firms.
Mr. Satheesan said the government’s decision was a significant break from the State’s Excise policy, executed in a “suspiciously furtive manner”. He said successive governments had desisted from permitting the set-up of liquor manufacturing in the State for socio-economic and environmental reasons.
He said Kerala’s liquor policy precluded administrations from according licences to alcohol manufacturing units in the State post-1999.
Despite Opposition support, Mr. Satheesan said the LDF had failed to give brewery licences to private players in 2018.
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