Sambalpur: A group of women on Monday ransacked a country-made liquor shop at Pandripathar village of Sambalpur district and set the liquor containers on fire. The angry women rued that despite their repeated protests, the liquor outlet was set up in the village.
The women, accompanied by other villagers reached the makeshift shop and vandalised it. The situation was brought under control only after the police intervened.
Earlier in January, hundreds of men and women from Dharamabandha, Bharuamunda, Chulabhati and Khutbanbhera gram panchayats under Sadar block of Nuapada district had joined an anti liquor protest. Alleging that the liquor sale was affecting their lives, the protesters blocked the Dharambandha-Nuapada road for hours and later submitted a memorandum to the district Collector.
Later that month, scores of residents and members of Balu Bazaar Puja Committee in Cuttack staged a demonstration against the opening of a licensed foreign liquor shop in their locality. The protestors had threatened to go on a hunger strike if the shop was not shifted from the locality.
Excise Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera, while replying to a question in the Odisha Assembly on March 26, said cases have been registered against women agitators ransacking liquor shops. "Two such cases have been registered in Jagatsinghpur district, 18 in Mayurbhanj, 11 in Angul and five in Bargarh, added the Minister.
The Odisha government on March 30 came up with a new excise policy for the year 2018-19 seeking improvement in manufacture, import, export, transport and sale of alcoholic beverages while attaching due priority to health and well-being of the citizens of the State.
The policy stated that no shop in Scheduled Area shall be renewed if the Gram Sabha has any objection and license will not be granted for any new 'Bhang' shop.