Ballari: It’s banned! Can’t name booze stores after gods and goddesses

Ballari: The state government has decided to ban the naming of liquor stores after Gods and Goddesses following protests in some quarters to the practice that is currently in vogue.

Minister for ports, fisheries, inland transport and muzrai, Kota Srinivas Poojari, who was addressing a convention of the Ediga community in Hosapete town on Thursday, said a circular would soon be issued to the owners of liquor stores to stop using the names of Gods and Goddesses for them as the government had received complaints from people about wine stores carrying divine names.

“The circular will be issued after a discussion with officers of the excise and the legal department,” he added. Mr Poojari who belongs to the Ediga community, that is traditionally involved in toddy tapping, urged it to encourage higher education among its children to help them occupy high positions in society.

“The traditional occupation of the Ediga people was toddy tapping. But today no one in the community is involved in this,” the minister noted, adding that he had appealed to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to include the Edigas in Category-1 instead of Category-2A of caste classifications.