Protesting against illegal liquor and ganja business, scores of Hinjras with the help of Ganapati Yuva Parishad (GYP) of IRC Village ransacked several country-made liquor shops at Ganapati Nagar under Nayapalli police station here on Wednesday.
The Hinjras came in a procession under the banner of Suraksha, an organisation to protect MTH community and their rights, and smashed 15 bottles of Aska Forty country-made liquor from a shop. later, they destroyed ganja worth over Rs 1 lakh after relocating it from a shop at Indradhanu Market area near the Nayapalli police station.
The local youths also threw their weight behind the Hinjras in the seizure of cannabis plants from a ganja suppliers’ house. Besides, they vandalised 10 Handia shops in the slum area. “We can’t tolerate regular torture on women by the drunkard husbands,” said Suraksha committee member Menaka, adding, “As the drunkard youths misbehave with girls passing by wine shops in the slums everyday, we decided to destroy the shops.”
Gopinath Nayak, a member of the GYP, said that around 2,500 families living in the slums of Ganapati Nagar, Trinath Nagar, Prem Nagar and Gandhi Nagar were not happy with the illegal liquor vending which helped encouraging criminal activities in the areas. “In 2001, we had destroyed a few liquor shops. Though we have been informing the police regarding the illegal liquor business, they hardly have paid any heed to us,” lamented Nayak.