Thrissur: The Nenmanikkara grama panchayat in Puthukkad Assembly segment here has decided not to give licence to the beverages outlet which the corporation is planning to shift from near Paliyekkara toll plaza to a residential area at Chittissery within the limit of the civic body. This comes in the wake of the widespread protest in over 100 locations in the state over the relocation of BEVCO outlets from near the national highways to other places.
Panchayat president Sheela Manoharan said that the panchayat had received a mass petition against the proposed location of the outlet near to a higher secondary school. “A teachers’ training college for women, a church and a government health centre are also located here. The roadside eateries which will sprout in the locality will dump the waste by the road. The outlet will create adverse impact on the social life here,” she noted. The civic body would inform the High Court within a week about its decision not to permit the outlet in its limit.
Education minister failed to find solution, allege Congress
The Congress unit of Puthukkad Assembly segment has alleged that Education Minister C. Raveendranath, MLA from here, had failed to take up the issue and find a solution. Congress chairman of the segment Joseph Tajet told reporters that in the agitation against the shifting of the liquor shop from near the toll plaza to a residential area, the police had registered cases against people, including women, by invoking non-bailable charges.
But the minister had not yet intervened in the matter. He has also failed to intervene in the alleged violation of the terms of operations by the toll company, he said. “He has not yet met the family of Jithin of Chengaloor, who met with an accident and died without getting medical care as he was stuck in the traffic block at the toll plaza,” Mr Tajet said. But the local CPM leaders say that the minister was taking care of all issues and was in touch with them regularly.
