Activist couple urges Maha govt to chalk new liquor policy

Reacting to the last week's hooch tragedy in Mumbai which claimed 102 lives so far, noted social activists Dr Abhay Bang and Dr Rani Bang today urged the Maharashtra government to chalk out a new liquor policy.
The government had got "addicted to liquor revenue", they alleged.
In a statement issued here, the Bangs said that the government was earning a huge revenue from the sale of (legitimate) liquor after it changed its policy in 1973. From Rs 100 crore in 1988, the revenue had now risen to Rs 10,000 crore a year.
However, this policy had failed to prevent the sale of spurious/illicit liquor and tragedies like the recent one were still taking place, they alleged.

The deaths in hooch tragedy should be dubbed as 'liquor murders' and government had accepted the responsibility for these deaths indirectly by giving aid of Rs 1 lakh to the kins of the deceased, they alleged.
Instead, there should be a new policy with the target of reducing the liquor manufacturing and consumption by 20 per cent every year, Bangs said.

The advertisements of liquor should be banned because they give the message that drinking is a symbol of modernity, Bangs said.
The state government was "addicted" to high revenue from liquor, so "de-addiction" of government was needed, the statement said.

Women should have a say in the formulation of liquor policy as well as in the control of liquor sales, they suggested.