Students up in arms against wine shops

Visakhapatnam: At a time when liquor shops licence period has come to an end on June 30, the locals and students of all educational institutions in and around Gnanapuram are up in arms against the renewal of three liquor shops licences.

Demanding the closure of liquor outlets at Gnanapuram, which comes under 44th ward and situated opposite new entrance of railway station, residents, along with the students, studying in educational institutions of the area staged a protest for the 11th consecutive day. Gnanapuram is an epicentre for several schools and colleges.

“Drunkards are creating lot of trouble to women, who pass through the vicinity. It is not the right place to run alcohol business here (Gnanapuram) as many schools and colleges are situated. There is every possibility students getting attracted to vices,” points out BMK Mahendra, 44th ward CPM secretary.

“What kind of image does it give when alcohol shops present in front of railway station entrance. Surely, it causes lot of inconvenience to passengers. Any misbehaviour of tipplers would lead to accidents and cost a life or lives. This is one of the reasons why we are demanding shutdown of the outlets,” said Midathada Mariadas, a retired drill teacher.

So far political parties YSRCP, TDP and CPM expressed their solidarity with the protesters. They avowed their intent for shutdown of the liquor shops. “A few days ago, Visakhapatnam South MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar interacted with the agitators at the protest scene and promised us that he would look into the matter and strive for removal of liquor outlets,” recalled Patrapilli Sunil, a school teacher.

“Often, we see tipplers walking in an unsteady manner on the road in a broad daylight. This creates a fear as we never know when they might fall on us,” said a girl student, who is studying in one of the schools.

By Y Abhishek Paul