The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Opening of excise tenders triggers protest

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Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Opening of excise tenders triggers protest

P. Sujatha Varma

Police cordon off the entire premises of Collectorate

Lok Satta Party activists giving roses to policewomen on duty at Collectorate in Machilipatnam on Monday to register their protest against granting of new licence to IMFL shops.

MACHILIPATNAM: The opening of tenders for the new excise licences organised in the Collector’s office here on Monday triggered a flurry of political activity. The atmosphere was charged up with a posse of khaki-clad personnel positioned at almost every ‘vulnerable’ point.

Massive police forces cordoned off the entire premises of the Collectorate even as bidders for liquor shops trooped into the main hall where tenders were kept in sealed iron boxes.

The security ring around the venue was necessitated due to the threat of a ‘maha dharna’ by the Telugu Mahila, the women’s wing of the Telugu Desam Party, in protest against the excise auctions.

‘Lopsided policies’

Even as the process of opening the tenders commenced, a sizeable group led by Telugu Mahila leaders came and started raising slogans against what they called the ‘lopsided’ policies of the Congress Government.

Holding party flags, they shouted slogans of ‘Indiramma Rajyam, Intinta Madyam’ (liquor flows in every house in Indiramma rule) and ‘Congress down down’.

After initial denial, they were allowed to go till the main gate where the activists, led by former Krishna Zilla Parishad Chairperson Nallagatla Sudha Rani, former Minister Y. Seetha Devi, Nandigama MLA Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and former MP Ambati Brahmanaiah squatted on the floor as a mark of protest.

Coming down heavily on the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Government, they accused it of going back on its election promises.

They said though there was no adequate drinking water for people, liquor flowed in every nook and cranny of the State.

Farmers suffered in the absence of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy and prices of essential commodities soared, but the Government was preoccupied with increasing its revenues by allowing liquor shops to thrive.

Mr. Umamaheswara Rao accused the Government of lacking a coherent excise policy, which had pushed the State into utter chaos. He said the party would not rest until the Congress Government was dislodged.

The TDP leaders then torched a huge liquor bottle-shaped structure made of straw amidst slogan shouting before courting arrest.

They were followed by the activists of the Lok Satta Party, who attracted everybody’s attention by displaying a ‘mobile’ brandy shop.

An activist donned the role of a vendor selling brandy on a pushcart and prodded the spectators to buy it.

“No money? Don’t worry. The Government will provide you loans at ‘paavala vaddi’ (3 per cent rate of interest) to buy liquor now,” he said, amidst loud laughter by the spectators.

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