CPI protests against government’s failure to shift liquor outlets

Party says the government is unwilling to shift shops fearing loss of revenue

Persistent demand: CPI workers stage a protest demanding shifting of liquor shops from East Coast Road in Puducherry on Friday.

Workers of the Communist Party of India on Friday staged a demonstration near the excise office to mark their protest against alleged failure of the authorities to remove or shift liquor shops on the arterial East Coast Road.

The protesters, led by CPI State secretary R. Viswanathan, raised slogans against the Excise Department and said that the Government was in no mood to shift the liquor shops on the East Coast Road on the ground that the excise had been the main source of revenue. He said the lives of family members were affected because of consumption of alcohol.

Most of them were widows who had lost their husbands at a young age and were the sole breadwinner of the family. The territorial administration had been planning to declassify the Vazhudavur Road and the arterial East Coast Road as district roads to ensure that the revenue was not affected, he said.