The Aditya Nath Yogi Government is under pressure to act against liquor shops after women in Uttar Pradesh started a campaign to get liquor shops closed forcibly. Just in the last 48-hours, over a dozen incidents were reported in the State, including lucknow where the agitated women attacked liquor shops and even torched some shops.
To diffuse the situation, Minister for Women Welfare, Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Tuesday assured that policy will be made to check the menace as well as to implement the Supreme Court orders regarding shifting of liquor shops at least 500 meters from schools and National Highways.
In lucknow, hundred of women torched a country made liquor shop in Banthara area on the lucknow-Kanpur Highway on Tuesday morning.
On Monday evening, they torched another liquor shop in Gwari area of Vibhuti Khand in Gomatinagar and in Sabzi Mandi at Gosainganj, besides ransacking shops on Faizabad road, Madiyaon and in Rajajipuram.
In Ambedkarnagar, four women were arrested, along with six others, when they ransacked a liquor shop in Mirzapur village in Akbarpur area while in Meerut a country made liquor shop was ransacked at Noorpur village and the salesman was assaulted before the cops rushed to his rescue.
In Premnagar of Bareilly, agitated woman ransacked two liquor shops. likewise in Ramnagar Puliya area in Agra, angry women torched a liquor shop in protest. The other places where women torched the liquor outlets, include Kachchie Basti on Idgah Road at Bajraiya, Balia, Badaut area of Bagpat, Chamrauta Bazar in Varanasi, lakinpur Kheri, Saharanpur, Bulundshahr, Mathura, Jhansi, and Aligarh.