Two days back, around 1,000 men and women staged a massive agitation to protest against the opening of a new liquor outlet at Brundaban Colony of Biju Nagar here citing that opening of the outlet would lead to law and order problems in the area.
A delegation of the protestors met district Collector Bibhuti Bhusan Patnaik and local MlA Naba Kishore Das demanding shutdown of the shop as they fear that drinkers would buy alcohol and consume it in this residential area. Both Patnaik and Das assured the delegation to review the matter and take necessary steps as deemed fit.
On the other hand, a Press meet was called in the evening by the shop’s owner Amit Yadav. He said that as per Government guidelines, necessary permissions have been given to him by the Excise Department to open the shop in the locality. However, the decision to control the persons consuming liquor is beyond his purview.
He stated that due to the Supreme Court’s order, he can't open a shop in the main Biju Nagar area. So, he had to open the shop on the outskirts of the locality to abide by the Supreme Court ruling. Under no circumstances, anyone can take a decision to close the shop as he has to pay revenue to the Government even if his shop is shut down. He added that a crowd of residents had locked his shop, after which he requested police to intervene in the matter.
Yadav further said the number of liquor shops has gone down from 16 to three in Jharsuguda due to the Supreme Court ruling.