SURAT, MARCH 16: Their success in curbing the liquor trade in Surat might be rather suspect, but the prohibition sleuths here will any day win laurels for coming up with the most remarkable and revolutionary interpretation of the Bombay Prohibition Act.On March 6, the department raided the house of Dawoodibhai Kaherbhai Kolsawala, owner of C T Cable Network in Tayebi Mohalla and also that of cable operator Abid Hyderbhai Doctor, saying they were promoting and encouraging the sale of foreign liquor. And how! These operators were apparently guilty of telecasting pay channels which reeled out liquor advertisements.
According to the sleuths, if the cable operators had not used decoders, the signals would not have reached the subscribers and liquor ads would never have seen the light of the day. But by telecasting channels, they were becoming a party to the crime of promoting liquor in the land where prohibition is practised.
When told that liquor advertisements appeared on free-to-air channels as well, thedepartment had nothing to say in their defence. So while Zee TV, Sony, Star Plus, Star News and a host of other free-to-air channels continued to show a heavy dose of liquor advertisements, confused cable operators stopped relaying signals of Star Movies -- the original target of Prohibition Department -- and later ESPN.
When the matter was brought to the notice of Prohibition Commissioner Kuldeep Sharma, he stated that the interpretation made by Surat-based deputy commissioner N D Solanki was not correct. The Commissionerate asked Solanki to immediately withdraw cases against the operators, saying they had no control over what was shown on channels.
However, even after the clarification by Sharma, cable operators continued to black out Star Movies and ESPN. While many of them were still confused about the matter, others feared action by the Prohibition squad. Not surprising, considering the fact that before he was reined in, Solanki was even planning to raid book stalls for selling magazines andperiodicals which had liquor ads! The argument was that these periodicals were being printed outside Gujarat, readers in Gujarat would not have got access to them had it not been for the stall owners.
Solanki, in the meanwhile, had claimed that the raids were conducted to find out how people respond would to it. When contacted by the The Indian Express, Sharma said that raids would not be carried out again. He added that the department would explore the possibility of blacking out liquor ads from Gujarat footage.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
