The festival is being organised by Forever Young in collaboration with the Indian Grape Processing Board and the North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC).
“The government, through its single window agency, is very quick to grant licences to ferro alloy industries and cement plants, which are, in fact, destroying the ecological balance. However, the same government is yet to legalise fruit wine making,” Forever Young leader Michael Syiem told reporters here today.
Syiem, who has been organising fruit wine festivals for the past seven years, also said the inability of the government to legalise the trade was because of the absence of a fruit preservation organisation.
The organisation was needed for standardisation of fruit wine making and granting licences to entrepreneurs engaged in the trade.
“Time and again, we have been reminding the government the need to legalise the trade as it would open up avenues for employment, besides promoting horticultural activities and helping fruit growers,” Syiem said.
“If a dry state like Mizoram could legalise fruit wine making and set up industries, why is it difficult for Meghalaya to replicate?” he asked.
Saying “political will” is a must to proceed with legalising the business, Syiem said, “If ferro alloy industries can be allowed to be established, why not fruit wine industries? It all depends on political will.”
Around 12 local wine makers, along with one from Assam, will be participating in the one-day festival.
In Meghalaya, brewing wine from a variety of fruits is a passion. However, an outmoded British era law stands as a major hurdle for local wine brewers as it prohibits sale of such products in the open market.
Wine here is produced from fruits such as sohiong (blackberry), strawberry, pear, peach, pineapple, ginger, valencia, date, guava, plum, watermelon, mulberry and a host of others.
However, with the delay in revising the Assam Excise Rules, 1945, this passion still remains a passion. The outdated British era law does not provide legal sanction for sale of fruit wine in the open market, unlike the sale of liquor.