The CPI(M) State secretariat has accused the United Democratic Front (UDF) government of masterminding the decision to shut down bar hotels to ‘appease anti-liquor activists to reap electoral gains.’
A press note issued by the Secretariat here on Tuesday said the decision not to renew the licence of 418 bar hotels was borne out of the skewed policy of the government. It said the government’s stated commitment to bringing down liquor consumption in the State stood exposed after it had renewed the licence of 315 star bars.
The press note said Congress leaders such as V.M. Sudheeran were only using the issue to settle scores with factional rivals and build their image. Rubbishing the government’s claims on lesser liquor consumption since April 1, it said liquor sales through outlets of the State Beverages Corporation and five-star bars had only shot up. The Excise Department, it said, was doing nothing to stem the flow of spurious liquor. There had been no action to rehabilitate the 20,000 bar hotel employees who had lost their jobs.
New barsThe secretariat said 39 new bar hotels of three-star status had been sanctioned even as the government maintained that only four-star bars would be allowed.
The UDF government, it said, was trying to hoodwink the public by trying to cover up the increasing liquor consumption and the social menace it engendered.
