‘We need national policy to eliminate liquor consumption’

March 30, 2015 12:00 am | Updated November 16, 2021 04:59 pm IST - Hyderabad:

Social activist and Arya Samaj leader Swamy Agnivesh called for a national policy to eliminate liquor consumption from the country. Many Chief Ministers and religious leaders were in favour of total prohibition, but it was necessary to bring all of them on a single platform to achieve the goal, he said.

Addressing an anti-liquor meeting organised by Jana Chaitanya Vedika here on Sunday, Mr. Agnivesh said a programme would be chalked out soon to take the movement forward. He recalled how prohibition was implemented in the united Andhra Pradesh when N.T. Rama Rao was the Chief Minister and also in Haryana during the regime of Bansilal. But the policy failed due to smuggling of liquor from neighbouring States. “Unless liquor ban becomes an election issue, things wouldn’t change,” Mr. Agnivesh said and asked people neither to consume liquor nor allow others to do so.

In a touching speech, Mr. Agnivesh listed out the destruction caused by liquor and said the money spent by the government on public health was much more than what was earned through excise. He said it was wrong to think that excise revenue was necessary for development of the State and pointed out how the Gujarat government was carrying out development without banking on excise money.

Many speakers felt ‘Bangaru Telangana’ was not possible without enforcement of total prohibition. The audience raised slogans like ‘Sharab hatao, Telangana bachao’.

V. Laxman Reddy, president, Jana Chaitanya Vedika, asked both the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments to take steps to close belt shops before the new excise policy comes into effect in July.

Srinivas Reddy, director, Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) said all welfare programmes of the government were set at naught by the havoc wrought by liquor.

A programme will be chalked out soon to take the anti-liquor movement forward

– Swamy Agnivesh

Arya Samaj leader

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.