The Travancore Sugars and Chemicals Limited (TSCL), which had been temporarily shut down last week following a spirit theft case, has resumed production of its popular brand of liquor, Jawan Delux XXX rum.
Yogesh Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of the State-owned company, said all arrangements were in place to resume the production and the production was set to begin immediately after a joint verification of the liquor stock by the Police and the Excise. “A qualified chemist has been brought in for resuming the production, which will begin either by Monday afternoon or by Tuesday morning ,” he told The Hindu.
The step, according to him, is being initiated also in view of a severe shortage of the brand in the market.
As to whether any additional measures would be taken to protect the spirit consignments from the north, Mr. Gupta replied that the existing e-locking system on the tankers were designed to raise an alarm in case of tampering attempts. “But if someone cuts open the tank’s top using a gas cutter, one cannot do much about it. It is for the police to look into such things,” he said.
Official sources said the authorities had sought the support of a person, who retired from the company as deputy manager of production several years ago, to resume the production. Except blending, the bottling and labelling are managed by Kudumbashree workers, who have been engaged on a contract basis.
Theft of spirit
Production of the alcohol brand came to an abrupt halt after the police arraigned key officials of the company as accused in the spirit theft case. Prior to the disruption, the company used to produce about 54,000 litres of the rum on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, the police team probing the spirit theft case will soon seek custody of the three persons arrested in this connection for a detailed interrogation. Efforts are also on to trace the company’s General manager Alex P. Abraham, personal manager Sheheem and production manager Megha Murali, all of whom have gone into hiding.
At the same time, another police team is slated to leave for Sendhwa in Madhya Pradesh to where the spirit pilfered from the company’s consignments have been diverted to.
