Thiruvananthapuram: Consumerfed has allegedly started a liquor shop at a residential building in Kudappanakunnu, causing residents to protest at the Corporation gates on Tuesday. Representatives from residential associations as well as political parties, under the banner of ‘Kudappanakunnu Madya Virudha Action Council’, demanded that the Corporation should take appropriate action. The outlet started functioning even though the building has not yet received a commercial license, according to Rajasekharan Nair, patron, Zone 7, Federation of Residential Associations Thiruvananthapuram (FRAT).
“Initially the ones running the outlet claimed they had a commercial license from the Corporation. Based on our complaint to the Tehsildar, the village officer came down to check. Then they told them that they had applied for the license,” says Mr Nair. The protesters met with Mayor V. K. Prasanth who told them that Corporation had not given a license for the shop. The building was occupied by a family who moved out just the day before the shop started functioning, according to Anil Kumar V. O., a BJP activist.
“It is a big house of over 2000 square feet near Civil Station at Kudappanakunnu. The people living here shifted on March 28, and the shop started selling liquor on March 29,” he says. Within 150 metres from the outlet is a Sisuvihar, according to the protestors. Separated from the building by a grill and two tin sheets, stands S. Ramesh’s house. “This is a thickly populated area. Nowhere in Kerala has there been such a liquor shop,” says Mr Ramesh.
