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Jagan promises liquor ban if voted to power
YSR Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday announced that his party would impose total ban on liquor in the State if the party was voted to power in the next elections.
Vijayawada: YSR Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday announced that his party would impose total ban on liquor in the State if the party was voted to power in the next elections.
He found fault with the government for doing business with the lives of the people. He said he would not go back on his promises like Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu who failed in containing belt shops.
Jaganmohan Reddy visited the families of the victims at the government general hospital and consoled the bereaved family members. He also paid tributes to the deceased persons at the mortuary.
Later, speaking to the members of the bereaved families, Jaganmohan Reddy took a dig at the excise policy of the government. He said that the Telugu Desam had promised a total ban of belt shops during the elections.
However, after coming to power, the government did nothing to prevent belt shops coming up in every street, he said.
He alleged that the liquor shops and bars in the State were being kept open from sunrise to midnight. “The sunrise may be delayed, but the bars are open in the morning. This is because the government wants more people to consume liquor and get more revenue from tipplers,” he added.
He held the State government responsible for the death of five persons and said that the officials were turning a blind eye to the flow of spurious liquor. He found fault with the government for allowing liquor shops and bars in the residential areas and also around educational institutions and places of worship. He said that the government had also allowed the bars to sell liquor round-the-clock as the government was concentrating on earning more revenue.
Referring to the excise policy of the government, Jaganmohan Reddy said that the State had earned Rs 6,632 crore in 2014 from liquor sales, while it had gone up to Rs 7,050 by October 2015. The government was mounting pressure on the officials to make a revenue of Rs 1,200 crore by the end of the current financial year, he said.
This run for the revenue had made the officials ignore the sale of spurious and non-duty paid liquor, which was the reason for the death of five persons, he added. YSRCP legislators Kodali Nani and Jaleel Khan, senior leaders K P Saradhi, Samineni Udaya Bhanu, Vangaveeti Radhakrishna, P Gowtham Reddy and others were present when Jaganmohan Reddy visited the members of the deceased families.
