NOW MOBILE LIQUOR VANS IN THE INTERIORS OF UTTRAKHAND. DID WE VOTE THEM TO SPOIL.OUR FAMILIES? Question voters….!

NOW MOBILE LIQUOR VANS IN THE INTERIORS OF UTTRAKHAND. DID WE VOTE THEM TO SPOIL.OUR FAMILIES? Question voters….!

(Sunil Negi, President, Uttarakhand Journalsts Forum)
Sometimes excessive majority in a democracy also leads to tremendous harm to the society as those in power tend to misuse it under the garb of resurrecting the health of the states’ falling economy n this perhaps seems to be the case in Uttarakhand where the previous Congress government was during the last election compelled to bite the dust by the BJP under the guise of of double engine theory of our honourable prime minister Narendra Modiji, saying that if the state of Uttarakhand brings BJP to majority in Uttrakhand not only will it progress multi dimensionally but being its own government at the Centre it won’t have any problem in terms of adequate funding. And the slogan clicked resulting in the electorates of Uttarakhand voting the BJP enmass thus according them a historic majority of 57 MPs, a record in the 17 year history of Uttarakhand so far ruled by 8 chief ministers. People were extremely happy on complete saffronisation of Uttarakhand feeling fully relieved from the Congress Party’s government’s past ill designs n huge corruption.

The defeat was so disgusting for Congress that its heavy weight chief minister Harish Rawat n Party Chief Kishore Upadhyay lost all their three seats n their party was too doomed with a negligible minority in the assembly of seventy. Now over four months of the current saffron eastablishment has elapsed n in the name of development n progress people are witnessing decentralised introduction of substandard Indian Made Foreign Liquor mobile trucks selling liquor in the interiors of Uttarakhand. This means that while the people of the state were expecting decentralised socio economic, educational, industrial, agricultural n medical/ health related quality infrastructural n employment oriented development , the ruling political dispensation of the state is more worried n concerned for the decentralised liquor selling n consumption than development by not only opening liquor vends on mass scale in the interiors of Uttarakhand but also arbitrarily introducing the mobile sale of liquor in the interior villages to generate revenue to the tune of about 2000 crores approximately in the years to come since the state is already reeling under the whopping fiscal defcit of about 47000 crores brought forward due to the previous governments’ inefficient handling of the situation. Sounds really shocking. Uttarakhand undoubtedly is a land of abode of Gods n spiritual, eco n moutaneering tourism is its real backbone to generate revenue on mass scale. After the massive catastrophic disaster of 2013 the state’s economy has badly suffered including its tourism sector which suffered losses in thousands of crores. But what make things even worse is the fact that inspite of making revolutionery innovations n improvements in the tourism sector the government seems to be more interested in generating revenue through liquor sales in the interiors of the state, particularly after the honourable Supreme Court’s directives restraining sale of liquor on the state highways. The government of UK has recently through a cabinet decision converted the status of about 30 such highway roads as interior PWD roads so that it dosen’t affect the liquor vends’ status and sales giving huge revenue to the state. Now after the decision of the Apex courts hundreds of liquor vends are being opened in the interiors of the state componded with introduction of mobile liquor van services which will not only vitiate the otherwise peaceful environment of the villages n towns but will literally spoil the socio economic n moral structure n fabric of hundreds of thosands of families n the socity at large. Criminalisation will also increase as smugglers, bootleggers n criminal elements will spred in villages to smuggle ilicit liquor in large qantam which never ever happened in Uttarakhand earlier. There is a general saying in Uttarakhand ” SURYA ASTH AUR UTTARAKHAND MAST” meaning people here are already so addicted to liquor that as the sun goes setting the local inhabitants get inebriated. The women organisations of Uttarakhand are already protesting relentlessly since the last few months demanding closure of liquor vends in their respective vicinities as the liquor have played havoc with hundreds of thousands of Uttrakhandi families in the hills but the government is not relenting n instead it has started mobile trucks n van services to sell liquor in the interiors of Uttarakhand thus vitiating its peaceful environment n spoiling families. It may be recalled that the government of Uttarakhand earns about 300 to 400 crores annually from official liquor sales which is not enough to equate with the partial developmental expenses of the state. It has now targetted to generate about 2000 crores through liquor sales in the coming years and as such enough emphasis is being made to open maximum liquor vends n mobile outlets in entire Uttarakhand. Those oppposed to this initiative of the government say that this massive liquor sale endeavour will not only vitiate the peaceful environment of the state by encouraging massive smuggling of legal n illegal liquor but will also open the doors of the peaceful hill state for the criminals, bootleggers, anti social elements n liquor mafias. Generation of revenue is undoubtedly a matter of prime concern for any state of the country but concentrating on liquor sales is not the reasonable solution particularly when the people of the states are against the move. The government should rather concentrate on other aspects of revenue genetation. What do you say, friends?