A slow, yet stubborn movement against location of liquor shops in rural areas seems to have begun in Thirukazhukundram taluk with a group of women from Aayapakkam village staging a dharna in front of a TASMAC outlet on the outskirts of their village on Monday.
Hundreds of women gathered near the liquor shop located on Nerumbur Road around 11 a.m. and squatted on the carriageway demanding the closure of the TASMAC retail outlet. They said that the existence of the shop in the vicinity of the hamlet had resulted in sustained increase in domestic violence. “They do not know what they are doing when our men are under the influence of alcohol. For us every day passes with horrendous experience,” the women told the police officials who tried to convince them to withdraw their agitation. When the women were told that it would not be possible to close down an establishment run by the government all of a sudden, the agitators asked how the two liquor shops, which functioned in the vicinity of Sadras Fort, were shut down a few months ago.
Baffled, the officials swiftly cited the election notification period as an excuse for their inability of taking any major decision now.
The demonstrators later dispersed.
Meanwhile sources said that a stiff resistance from the womenfolk belonging to residential colonies along the coast and from minority community living near the Fort had forced the TASMAC authorities to down the shutters of two liquor shops at Sadras and look for alternative sites.
The success of local people at Sadras in forcing the TASMAC to heed their demand had inspired womenfolk in nearby localities such as Vadanemmeli and Vengambakkam, where a large number of women staged demonstrations in front of liquor shops functioning in their respective localities, the sources said.
