The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Women join hands to curb liquor sale

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 11, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Women join hands to curb liquor sale

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDAPAH, DEC. 10. Women have joined hands to ban the sale and consumption of liquor in Bommavaram panchayat headquarters in Obulavaripalle mandal, unable to bear the harassment they were subjected to by men under its influence.

Two unauthorised belt shops in Bommavaram catered to guzzlers, who spent their earnings on alcohol, harassed women and picked up drunken brawls to part with money.

With the flourishing liquor trade making their lives miserable, women members of 11 self-help groups (SHG) under the Velugu scheme led by the Gramaikya Sangham (village organisation) decided to put an end to the ordeal. They went to the belt shops en masse and gave an ultimatum to shopkeepers to close down the shutters after exhausting the existing stocks within a week.

Rehabilitation

Liquor sales were suspended from December 1. However, shop owners lamented loss of livelihood and conveyed it through an SHG member, whose husband was a liquor vendor. Considering their plea, the Sangham president, U. Krishnamma, assured financial assistance to liquor vendors to enable them take up another trade.

Closing down the liquor outlets would not suffice, the women decided and vowed to stop arrack brewing in neighbouring villages. They also took a unanimous decision not to permit liquor-supplying vehicles to pass through the village. They also firmly resolved not to allow their menfolk to live with them if they consumed liquor elsewhere and returned home.

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