Men go 'spirit' less for a year; Women celebrate with spirited gusto

- Peddapasupula village in Kadapa back in news - Women diktat reigns - Self-imposed prohibition continues

PP Nagaraju

Kadapa: The women folk of the Peddapasupula village in Peddamadiam mandal in the district celebrated completion of their 'one year successful ban' on liquor in their village on Thursday. A Last year the women of the 10,000-population village decided to keep their village liquor-free. As a first step, they staged a dharna before the liquor shop for a week from 9 am to 9 pm and tried to stall the sales of liquor. The CPI and CPM workers along with their front organisations joined the fray.

They met the chief minister during his visit to the district and submitted a representation to close down liquor shop in their village. "If you want revenue, we will beg for money in the streets and deposit to the exchequer. Please close down the liquor shop and save lives," they pleaded with Kiran Kumar Reddy. As nothing worked, the women folk with support from almost all political parties forcibly closed the shops. The police filed a case against six women which is still pending in the court.

During the year, the Excise Department officials tried to re-open the shop but the women activists successfully thwarted all such attempts. Congress local MLA Adinarayana Reddy and Telugu Desam leader and former minister Rama Subba Reddy ensured that their supporters did not bid for the liquor shop in the village. Even District Collector Anil Kumar wrote to the Excise Commissioner not to open liquor shop in the village.

To ensure that their men did not drink outside the village, they took them to de-addiction camps and made them to take medicines to get away from the habit. A They celebrated the first anniversary of their successful movement.

Speaking to the media, the women said now they could save money and improve their living standards because there is no more wastage of money on liquor. They vowed their resolve to continue the movement and never allow liquor shop in the village. They appealed to all political parties and the government to declare their village as 'liquor-free village'.