The general body meeting of the Zilla Parishad, which was held in Nizamabad on Monday with the chairman K. Venkatramana Reddy being in the chair unanimously decided to convene a special general body meeting on May 12 to discuss the issue of MRPs of liquor and collection of prices over the MRP by liquor traders, taking into consideration of the notice given by members present.
Angered over the absence of Excise Officers and the non-issue of the U.O note by the ZP Chief Executive Officer, Suresh Babu, asking them to attend the meeting, the ZPTC members rushed to the dais and insisted on explanation by surrounding the chairman and the CEO.
Citing the government Memo No. 78441 Mdl.II/91 dated 18-11-1992 when the CEO sought to explain that the ZP was not empowered to summon the Excise Officers as they did not belong to “development department” and they were as good as police the members fired salvoes at him.
Joining them in protest the chairman wanted the CEO to tell whether they were not public representatives and then who should represent the public woes arising out of sale of liquor with about 50 per cent profit margin by forming a syndicate what he also called the liquor mafia?. He wanted to know as to who were behind the liquor mafia and why were they acting against the public interest.
Mr. Venkatramana Reddy made it clear that in the next general body on the liquor prices and the ‘excesses' of the liquor syndicate the Collector and the Excise Officers would be present. He pointed out that they were several instances of the Excise authorities attending the ZP general body meetings and they were resorting to escapism when the MRP rates issue had come to the fore.
Meanwhile, there was confusion on the conduct of Monday's general body as almost all district officers and more than half of the ZPTC members abstain from it. However, it began 45 minutes beyond the scheduled time and concluded within an hour.
