Illicitly distilled liquor, Gudumba, has been ravaging the lives of tribals of several hamlets of Mulug and Mahbubabad mandals, as it has over the years claimed lives of large number of men folk and left the surviving widows not only to fend for themselves, but also face a large number of legal cases filed against them by the Excise department.
In a span of 5 years, about 20-25 men in Ramnagar hamlet, 8 km from Mulug headquarters, lost their lives to Gudumba addiction with the result that women now outnumber men here. The latest count of men in Ramnagar hamlet is only 10.
In Mahbubabad mandal, one can came across large number of young widows in tribal hamlets like Pattipaka and Babunayak thanda, where Gudumba addiction claimed more than 50 persons in a span of three years.
Women have taken over family reigns after they lost their husbands to Gudumba. Similarly in Ramnagar and many other hamlets in Warangal, young widows are left to fend for themselves.
The second-generation tribal youths, who have stayed away from Gudumba so far, are living a life of hopelessness.
For instance, Lunath Rajgopal (29), a polio-afflicted youth, who lost his elder brother in 2011 and his father in 2003 to Gudumba, says, “After the death of my brother and father, the family burden is now on me but there are not enough means of livelihood.”
While the youth are desperate for a means of livelihood, widows here have to attend to numerous court cases as some of them earlier assisted their husbands in Gudumba preparations.
“Without looking into their socio-economic issues first, the Excise and Prohibition department booked more than a 100 cases against tribals for making Gudumba in Ramnagar hamlet, which has only 60 houses,” says tribal leader Mr A. Sitaram Naik, adding that in the last one decade, more than 50,000 excise cases were registered against Banjara tribals.
Though Gudumba is still a cottage industry in many tribal hamlets, in the process of its preparation, many are known to get addicted to it unintentionally as makers have to taste their product before it is sold.