Nuapada: Adopting a unique method to protest liquor sale, a group of women Friday offered ‘sarbat’, a drink prepared from fruits, to the people who turned up at a shop to buy liquor here.
They demanded immediate eviction of the liquor outlet from the locality in larger interests of the residents.
According to reports, several liquor traders had relocated their shops following an apex court ruling against opening of liquor shops along National Highways. However, they have started returning to their previous places of businesses. Locals, especially women, have been strongly opposing the move.
They have been protesting to get rid of a liquor shop near Shankar Temple at Khariar Road in a peaceful manner.
Thursday, they kept standing before the shop with ‘sharbat’ bottles in their hands and offered the drink to whoever turned up to booze.
Earlier, the foreign liquor shop near the park of ward-8 (alongside NH-353) was relocated to Daga Chowk following the Supreme Court order. However, the shop owner was trying to come back to the previous location as the court has relaxed the law for the municipality area. The trader finally started business near Shankar Temple on NH-353 close to Orissa-Chhattisgarh border. This has been opposed by hundreds of men and women of ward-8 and 9.
Interestingly, some people who received the soft drinks from the women supported the anti-liquor drive.
Mamata Bharati, Salu Jagat, Sumati Yadav and many others of Khariar Road Seva Samiti were part of the protest.
The liquor trader managed to influence some people who had their vested interest and got them signed in a ‘no objection’ document to open the outlet, the protesters alleged.
The district administration should evict the shop immediately respecting the opinion of the people, they said. PNN
