All the nine Prohibition Enforcement Wing (PEW) check-posts in Villupuram district located on the inter-state border with Puducherry will soon go “live” with CCTVs at the check posts being linked with the District Police Office in Villupuram.
The police have installed high-definition CCTV cameras at nine check-posts and they have been networked with the Special Branch wing under the direct supervision of the Superintendent of Police. The CCTVs will go live in the next few days. According to Superintendent of Police G. Shashank Sai, the personnel at the Special Branch will get real-time alerts in the case of smuggling of liquor. The automated surveillance system will work round-the-clock and help the authorities to curb smuggling.
With Villupuram sharing a porous inter-state border with Puducherry, a traditional “wet pocket”, the possibility of liquor coming in from the Union Territory to Tamil Nadu, has always existed. Lower prices of liquor of high-end brands in the Union Territory and a differential tax structure has led to the smuggling of IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) to neighbouring districts of Tamil Nadu over the years, and has caused substantial revenue leakage to the already cash-strapped U.T.
