YC demands shifting of liquor shop

Raipur, March 31, 2012

In its protest against the opening of liquor shops in public places as well as sale of illegal liquor shops in city, the Youth Congress (YC) on Saturday demonstrated before one such shop based at Shankar Nagar and demanded from the local administration to shift it elsewhere.

The YC members led by their Raipur Lok Sabha general secretary Pankaj Mishra said the Collector should quickly order closure of Shankar Nagar’s liquor shop pointing that it was in the proximity of school, college and hospital where public movement could be marked throughout the day.

“In fact, the local administration should shift all the licensed liquor shops located in public places, especially near academic institutions and religious places, to non-populated areas,” Mishra said.

“The illegal liquor is not only being sold in the urban areas but even in the rural pockets. About 40 percent of the state’s villages witness this practice on daily basis. The sale of illegal liquor and accumulation of drunkards in the public places has increased the crime rate in the state,” Mishra said.

“The people have to face inconvenience owing to wrong excise policy of the government as all the liquor shops have been opened in the public places,” he said.

He informed that the liquor shops at public places had become popular hub for the drunkards and the anti-social elements who frequently tease the passers-by, especially females even in broad daylight.

He alleged that the local administration was giving asylum to the liquor contractors on government’s directives and was deliberately not shifting the liquor shops from public places to elsewhere.

The YC warned the Excise department of launching massive anti-liquor campaign if its demands would not be fulfilled in coming days. “Through agitation, we will continuously mount pressure on the Excise department and state administration to tighten noose on the liquor contractors,” Mishra said.

On the occasion, he was accompanied by YC members Prateek Yadu, Utkarsh Anand, Amit Diwan, Ajay Nair, Sachin Pandey, Hira Nagarchi, Amar Kurre, Sanju Thakur, Bharat Dheemar, Dhruv Sharma, Ajay Kujur, Sanju Rao, Kamlesh Sinha, Hemant Patel, Manohar Rangel, Piyush Vaswani, etc.