Working in the direction of checking the sale of liquor and other drugs in rural area,Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has slapped a fine of Rs11000 on a village panchayat of home district (Rohtak).
The panchayat carried by women, was held at Bhaini Bhairo village under Meham sub-division, about 35 km from here, on Saturday evening.Though the accused did not appear before the panchayat despite being summoned to defend him in this regard, the panchayat representatives said penalty amount would be taken at any cost from either the accused or his family.
Panchayat had decided if any villager found guilty they would be punished at village level first to protect the youths from liquor or drug addiction. This is for the first time in this district when the panchayat has imposed penalty on any liquor seller. "Decision to penalize the accused has been taken unanimously. Absence of the accused in the panchayat's meeting also confirmed that he was indulged in selling liquor," said a member of the panchayat.
He maintained that family members of the accused had assured the panchayat to deposit the penalty amount.
A Sarva Jatiya Sarva Khap panchayat that was held in Jind recently has also decided to tighten the noose around drug peddlers, especially in the villages. They believe that the drug addiction has assumed alarming proportions in the village and the khap panchayat has to take this step to punish these peddlers.
The panchayat has also formed a Surveillance Committee to nab the drug peddlers in their area. A khap leader said that when the drug peddlers would be humiliated before the panchayat, they would not dare to do this illegal act.