TV
Taking up the cudgels against the proposed liquor shop, hundreds of villagers, including women, staged a demonstration at Hatasahi Panchayat under Rajkanika Police limits in Kendrapara district on Monday.
The residents of Hatasahi Panchayat have been opposing the government’s decision to allow a liquor outlet in the Panchayat. They even shot off a letter to the government urging it to withdraw the decision.
The villagers alleged that the government instead of changing its decision is still moving ahead with its proposal.
The agitating villagers justified their demand saying there is a school, a college, and villages near the proposed site. If the government doesn’t change its decision, they will intensify their agitation in the coming days, they threatened.
“Once the liquor shop is opened, it will affect us adversely. Our children would become alcoholic and our village women would no longer feel safe. The government should instead have opened either a hospital, school, or an old-age home,” said Sarpanch of Hatasahi Panchayat, Sitarani Das.
Expressing her concern, the president of All India Progressive Women’s Association, Sabita Baraj said, “It is seen that the empty liquor bottles lying in farmlands affect production. In this locality, crop production has already been affected due to prawn farming. The opening of a liquor shop would do more harm.”
