The Deputy Commissioner of Excise, P. Gopalakrishne Gowda, on Thursday, faced the wrath of the farmers here on Thursday, for his insensitive comment over sanctioning a liquor shop in Harnahalli in Arsikere taluk. The officer reportedly said that the farmers would get relief for their crop loss only if his department registers good revenue.
Residents of Harnahalli staged a protest under the banner of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha in front of the Excise Department’s office in Hassan on the day. They opposed the sanctioning of a new liquor shop in the village. The village already has one liquor shop and the villagers, who received information about the second shop being sanctioned, had submitted a memorandum opposing the move last month.
However, the office had not taken the memorandum seriously. They had gone ahead with the procedures to sanction the shop, necessitating a protest by the farmers. Mr. Gowda, while listening to the protesters, said, “What happens if there are two liquor shops in a village? People will have liquor from that shop too. What is the problem? If you face crop loss, the government has to depend on the Excise Revenue to compensate the loss.”
Apology demanded
The protesters, most of them women, took the officer to task for his comment. They maintained that many villagers had already lost all their savings because of the habit of consuming alcohol. They demanded that the officer apologise for his comments.
Finally, Mr. Gowda admitted his mistake, stating that he should not have made such a comment. Further, he added that he would take a report from the Excise Inspector before taking a stand on the issue of sanctioning the shop in the village.
