Anantapur/Nellore: Women activists, youths and school students on Monday ransacked a liquor shop in Kadapa.
The department has sanctioned a wine shop for 2017-19 period at the Saipeta area. The wine shop was opened two days ago.
On Monday, colony people – women, youths and students, took out a protest and ransacked the liquor shop. The protestors threw out liquor bottles from the shop and also damaged its furniture.
Kadapa Two town sub inspector K. Rushendra-babu rushed to the spot and dispersed the mobs by convincing them to give a representation to the collector and other officials, instead of opting for violence. The colony people then asked collector Baburao Naidu to move the liquor shop from the premises.
Similarly, many people staged a protest at Uravakonda town in Anantapur district against allowing shop in residential area.
Muslims, led by AIDWA, lamented that the liquor shop was permitted in a congested street in the Gulzarpet area.
The colony people had also protested at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise two days ago. At least, 10 shops were moved away from national highways in the Anantapur circle area.
The traders were looking for busy areas to get returns even after moving to residential colonies, sources said.
Women residents raised a tirade against Excise officials for sanction of permission to wine shops in their neighbourhood in several parts of Nellore and Prakasam districts also.
Women and locals forced the only liquor shop functioning in Atmakur to close down in Nellore district.
In case of Prakasam, women staged protests before proposed liquor outlets and threatened to burn the shops if the dealers dare to open it at Podili, Rayavaram and Chintagunta near Marka-puram and Kandukur Road in Singarayakonda apart from Santanutalapadu.
Excise officials are in a fix over handling the situation because people never raised any objection when liquor shops were set up in residential areas earlier.
In addition to this, the restriction against allotting shops within 500 m to both state and national highways has become another stumbling block to grant the licences.
Officials have been attributing this to a decision by the state government to convert 60,000 km in the state as state and national highways in December 2015.
Excise Superintendent of Markapuram R. Hanumantha Rao said they had sorted out issues at Markapuram and Podili as well as Singarayakonda by shifting the shops as demanded by the women.
He said they were giving weightage to the opinion of locals and trying to shift the shops wherever possible. He suspected that some vested interests were provoking the residents while pointing to protests where already there was liquor shop for a long time.
