Anna Hazare increases his anti-liquor rhetoric

In the wake of the Kopardi rape case, social activist and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare demanded a liquor ban in Ahmednagar district, claiming that alcohol was responsible for atrocities against women. Mr Hazare met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in Vidhan Bhavan on Wednesday after which he interacted with mediapersons. The activist said that liquor should be banned wherever women gram sabhas pass the resolution, but maintained that he had never sought a blanket ban across the state.

"I am not demanding a complete ban on liquor across the state, as it would lead to loss of Rs 23,000 crore to the state exchequer," said Mr Hazare.

The Bihar government had recently taken a decision on banning liquor across the state. Mr Hazare demanded that a legal provision be made for the appointment of village protection forces to keep tabs on liquor and gambling dens. These units are supposed to identify such dens, raid them and register panchnamas before handing over cases to the police and excise department.

Mr Hazare said that the proactive participation of villagers in the units would help to effectively eradicate the liquor menace in villages. He said that notable citizens from various communities and of different age groups would comprise the units.

The activist said that the law would have a provision to imprison liquor shop owners if they were found to be violating the rules more than three times and it would also have a provision to give 3 to 10-year sentences.

"We also have demanded the constitution of an anti-liquor committee at the state, district and tehsil level, allocation of the symbol while conducting elections in gram sabhas and allocation of a certain percentage of excise duty to awareness programmes. The CM has assured me that he would bring about a bill for the constitution of units to control the spread of illegal liquor," said Mr Hazare.