CPI(M) protests against presence of liquor shops on highways

Party slams move to declassify some stretches of highways

Spirited fight: CPI(M) activists staging a protest near the excise office in Puducherry on Friday.

Workers of the Communist Party of India (M) 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(M) State secretary Rajangam, raised slogans against the Excise Department and said that the government was in no mood to shift the liquor shops on the ground that the excise was the main source of revenue.

The government is planning to declassify 65 km of national highways and 35 km of state highways in the Union Territory as district roads to ensure that revenue was not affected, he said.