More women seek liquor licences

Karimnagar: Believe it or not, women are increasingly becoming bolder by the day.

In Karimnagar district, the women are competing with men for liquor outlets.

Bids were invited for allocation of 2,216 liquor shops in the district.

After drawing of lots, licences for 2,111 shops were given. There were no takers for 105 outlets.

This time women vied with men to get liquor licenses unlike in the past when men only used to participate in bids.

In Karimnagar, as many as 18 women secured licenses to open liquor shops for the next two years. There were in all 3,416 applications.

As many as 113 women participated in the bid for liquor outlets. Women were allotted four shops in Jagityal, seven each in Karimnagar town and Godavarikhani Municipal Corporation limits.

Speaking to The Hans India, Telangana Mahila Samakhya (TMS) district convener Shobha Rani alleged that some persons had applied for licences in the name of their wives.

The Samakhya, at its meeting here, decided to stage protests at the liquor outlets which were sanctioned to women. She alleged that the State government was planning to sell cheap liquor to increase its revenue.

She said that with a view to get money for the States’ exchequer, the government was trying to flow cheap liquor in rural areas.

Social activist and Principal of Arts College Dr Surepalli Sujatha felt that the women getting licences for liquor outlets was not a major event.

Women cannot run the shops. Ultimately, the men only would operate them, she said.