Rajgarh, April 8 (IANS) Since last week, a group of women along with their children have been sitting outside a liquor shop in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh and demanding that the liquor shop should be shifted to some other place.
These women have taken a unique way to protest against the liquor shop and to get their voice heard by the district and state administration. They are singing ‘bhajans’ (religious songs) and sitting there.
A video surfaced on social media showing that while the women are sitting and singing ‘bhajans’ and beating ‘dholak’ (drum), people are visiting the liquor shop and buying liquor.
Talking to media persons, a woman said, “This liquor shop has put our life in trouble and we have been demanding to shift it to some other location for the last few years. People consume alcohol and create a nuisance. Our daughters can’t even sit on balconies of houses due to fear.”
The protesting women have also met the Guna District Collector, after which the liquor shop was shut on March 29. However, it again opened on April 1, prompting more protests from the women.
“We have decided not to leave this place until this liquid shop is closed permanently. Our protest is not against the government, but we won’t let it happen now,” said a woman.
Since April 1, protests against liquor shops have been witnessed in several parts of the state, including Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur etc.
On Sunday, a group of women took to the streets and burnt an effigy of the Excise Department in protest against the opening of a new liquor shop near Semra Gate in the Ashoka Garden in Bhopal.
Hundreds of residents have been staging demonstrations, demanding that the liquor shop be relocated. They said that the presence of a shop in the vicinity will disrupt the peace of residential areas and local communities.
Despite the continued protest, officials of the Excise Department have turned a blind eye and taken no action.
–IANS
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