Women raze illegal liquor shop to ground in Odisha

Angry members of a Women Self Help Group (WSHG) at Saranai village under Khordha’s Balugaon police limits destroyed an illegal liquor shop on Friday.

As per reports, the women have been complaining about the illegal liquor shop since long. But the police have allegedly turned a blind eye to their plight.

They alleged that because of the liquor shop, which was run illegally by three friends in the village, their husbands and children have become addicted to alcohol and have lost their lives in accidents. People of Saranai have developed terminal diseases because of alcohol too, they alleged.

“The trio (Liquor sellers) killed our children by making them alcoholics. Our husbands are beating us after consuming alcohol. My hand has been fractured thrice. My son got injured in an accident. A woman committed suicide because of this. We urge the government to stop selling alcohol,” said a local, Damayanti Sahu.

Similarly, another woman in Saranai, Anita Maharana said, “I have two daughters. Whatever my husband earns he spends them in alcohol. He even beats me if I stop him from drinking. We have filed complaints at the police station many times. But they have not acted on the bootleggers till now.”

Frustrated by the police inaction, the village women, particularly from an SHG got united and destroyed the liquor shop with sticks and lathis.

Following the destruction of the liquor shop, the sellers have been missing from the village.

No comments have been received from the administration in this regard.

(Reported By Shakti Prasad Mohapatra, OTV)