Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony sounded the alarm yesterday over the growing addiction in Kerala to arrack or country liquor, while admitting that the total ban he had imposed on arrack during his previous tenure had indeed flopped.

Though the ban did not serve the desired purpose there was no plan to scrap it, he added. Addressing a meeting on prohibition here, he observed that Kerala topped the per capita liquor consumption chart, followed by Punjab.

The ban's purpose was defeated by the illegal liquor trade all over the state, he said. Even those who paid lip service to the anti-liquor campaigns in public had clandestine links with the liquor lobby. Almost every political party patronises one liquor baron or the other, he added.

He also attributed the growing incidents of torture of women and troubled family relations in the state to liquor addicts.

The arrack ban was introduced by Antony late in his previous tenure as chief minister. The step, rendering tens of thousands of arrack workers jobless, was aimed at wooing women voters in the assembly elections. In the polls, however, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was voted to power.

Antony said the number of addicts was going up steadily, creating a dangerous situation. All efforts by public servants and prohibitionists had not yielded any positive result.

Sources at a de-addiction centre also reveal that according to their studies a growing number of Keralites were drinking alcohol from a younger age and women were shaking off old taboos and taking to liquor, especially beer.

"There is now a sizeable number of women beer drinkers in Kerala."