People from at least seven hamlets in the island staged protest in front of the taluk office here on Thursday against the move to locate a liquor shop at Semmamadai village.
The villagers after noticing that the authorities have started construction work for relocating the shop, which was earlier functioning on the national highway at Thangachimadam and closed after the Supreme court order, presented petitions to the Tahsildar and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) urging them not to open the shop.
G. Karthikeyan, a resident of Semmamadai, who led the protest, said the officials proposed to open the shop near the Amman temple in gross violation of norms prescribed for opening liquor shops. The norms were clear that no shop should be located near educational institutions, places of worship and in residential areas, he also said.
The shop, if opened would pose huge problems to the people of Semmamadai, Kizhakadu, Sathya nagar, Ondiveeran nagar, MGR nagar, TSMA nagar and Rajiv Gandhi nagar and create law and order problem, he said.
As women from these villages used the way, where the shop was coming up for their daily chores and work, the authorities should not set up the shop, Mr. Karthikeyan said.
Intensify agitation
The villagers have resolved to intensify their agitation after staging demonstration on June 7 if the officials continued the work for opening the shop, he said.
