Ban liquor plea gains steam in Yavatmal-TIMES OF INDIA

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Ban liquor plea gains steam in Yavatmal

TNN, Mar 4, 2011, 02.15am IST

NAGPUR: Several non-government organisations have joined hands to demand a total ban on liquor in Yavatmal, a district known as epicenter of farmers suicide crisis in the country. The groups — Bharat Swabhiman Trust of Baba Ramdev, Gurudev Sewa Mandal founded by Tukdoji Maharaj, Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti and Vidarbha Rajya Sangharsh Samiti, Shramik Elgar — have threatened to organise a massive women's protest on March 8 if the government does not respond to the demand by then. Addressing a joint press conference in Yavatmal on Thursday, the groups said that official reports bear the fact that the liquor consumption in the district had recorded a whopping 10 fold increase in the last five years — from 2.4 million litres a year to 24 million.

Addiction to liquor was identified as one of the reasons causing social problems and distress that drove farmers to suicide in Yavatmal. In fact, when Narayan Rane was revenue minister he had raised this issue in the state assembly after the then district collector Sanjay Deshmukh reported the alarming rise in liquor consumption.

"But instead of taking any corrective action, the government has allowed country liquor licence owners to shift location from one village to another if they faced any public protest. Besides there is alarming rise in illicit liquor distillation. All this has destroyed social fabric and a large number of families suffer when the bread earner becomes victim of addiction," said Dinesh Rathod and Ramesh Thakre of Bharat Swabhiman.

"State BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar has supported the prohibition demand and written to Chief Minister Prithiviraj Chavan. So have Yavatmal MLA Nilesh Parvekar, deputy speaker Vasant Purke, who hails from that district. If the government does not accept our demand, on international Women's Day (March 8), we will take out a massive march to the district collectorate to register our protest," said Kishore Tiwari of VJAS.

"We do not need any committee to destudy the grave implications of excessive drinking in the district, prohibition should be imposed before more damage is caused," said Paromita Goswami of Shramik Elgar.