STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Taking cue from women agitations against newly opened wine shops in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, few goons, anti-nationals and anti-social elements have started drives against wine shops in Jammu also demanding safety money from wine dealers.
In a glaring example, many shops which were operating smoothly for more than a decade or so have become the target of such anti-social elements. The burning of a wine shop at Gorkha Nagar, agitation against a wine shop at Raipur Satwari, etc is an open example.
Petty leaders of various political parties with a motive to blackmail wine shop owners have started threatening them to get their shops closed if they do not fulfill their demands.
In one of such incidents a wine shop situated at Patnitop is facing this problem where a shop is situated more than 500 meters away from the main road and having no residential house upto 400/500 meters and situated on a commercial road.
Despite fulfilling all the parameters, required under law and social requirements, a petty activist of national party alleged to have demanded a huge money from the owner of the shop failing which he threatened to get the shop closed one way or the other.
In this context, he brings female folk to stage dharnas before the shop with a motive to put pressure on the administration to take action against the shop. Here it is relevant to mention that when SHO of the area Inspector Rakesh Singh identified the protesters as hired ladies from far flung areas and asked them their identities, they preferred to flee away and hatched a conspiracy to meet the DC Udhampur.
Sources further revealed that when failed to get threat money and on the failure of dharnas by ladies they approached Deputy Commissioner Udhampur to put further pressure on the wine dealer.
The DC who had assured the deputation that he will personally visit the shop on Wednesday, the alleged blackmailer called ladies from far flung villages like Maadla (15 km away), Kud (9 km away), Saketar (5 km away), Karlal (3 km away) etc etc to impress upon the DC that the ladies concerned are aggrieved one.
It has further come to the light that the ladies who assembled before the DC were not only from far flung areas but few of them were government employees who along with other ladies were paid Rs 500 each to stage dharna.
Here it is relevant to mention that keeping in view the nuisance and law and order problem created by few so called social activists against wine shops, the Divisional Commissioner convened a meeting in his office chamber on 31st May, which was attended by DC Kathua, DC Samba, DC Jammu, Excise Commissioner, Deputy Excise Commissioner, three Senior Superintendents of Police and representatives of wine merchants association and after going through all the pros and cons and discussions on issue, the Divisional Commissioner assured that no wine shop shall be closed without proper verification in which genuineness of the complainant more particularly the distance from which they belong shall be verified.
The Divisional Commissioner and the other senior officers in the meeting observed that the closing of wine shops with proper licenses is not only harming the state exchequer but are increasing sale of illicit liquor and drugs.
