Kerala liquor policy: Kerala Catholic Bishops Council warns of strong agitation

Thiruvananthapuram: The Temperance Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) has warned of a strong agitation if the state government went ahead with its decision to retain bars and wine and beer parlours on the highway side by restricting the relevant Supreme Court order to government outlets alone. KCBC chairman Archbishop M. Soosapakiam of the Latin archdiocese of Thiruvananthapuram termed the new liquor policy of the state government as one aimed at drowning the state in liquor. The policy was breaking the promises given to the people during the elections. The people voted the LDF to power to implement pro-people policies, he said.

The anti-liquor collective Kerala Madya Virudha Janakeeya Munnani took put a protest march to the Assembly on Thursday. The demands include the continued closure of liquor outlets that were shut down earlier, strict implementation of the Supreme Court order prohibiting liquor outlets along national highways and the restoration of sections 232 and 447 of the panchayat-municipality Acts. The march, which began at the Martyrs Column, Palayam, was inaugurated by poet and activist Sugathakumari at 11 a.m. The archbishop inaugurated the protest held near the Assembly.

The KCBC has urged Governor P. Sathasivam not to sign the ordinance seeking to deprive the local bodies of the power to regulate the establishment of liquor outlets. Earlier this week, a delegation of KCBC had met the governor and protested against the amendments to the Nagarapalika and Panchayati Raj Acts making it easier for the excise department to establish liquor outlets without the consent of local bodies. The delegation had asked him not to sign the ordinance aimed at amending the acts.