Source indiatimes.com

General body unanimous on proposal, but most politicians feel it’s not very practical



Even as the Supreme Court, revising its own widely debated decision, recently clarified that the ban on the sale of liquor within 500 metres of state and national highways does not apply within city limits, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) seems to have taken a rather more extreme stand in the entire affair. Now, the civic body has passed a resolution aiming to ban liquor not only within Pune city, but throughout the state of Maharashtra.

On Monday, the PMC general body meeting unanimously passed the proposal in question, tabled by deputy mayor Siddharth Dhende — it will now be sent to the state government for final approval.



Both Dhende and corporator Sunita Wadekar of the Republican Party of India (Athavale) or RPI (A), who were elected to PMC under the aegis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had tabled this resolution on April 4 this year, after the SC imposed restrictions on the sale of liquor within 500 metres of state and national highways. Later, the apex court, on the appeal of liquor shop-owners and other stakeholders, withdrew this restriction in civic jurisdictions.



Dhende told Mirror, “According to reports from the World Health Organisation and National Crime Bureau, Maharashtra ranks at one compared to other states in the country when it comes to deaths caused by drink driving, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu come. So, it is the duty of the state government to take care of public health. Instead of banning liquor only on highways, it is better that they implement such a decision statewide. The state has already banned liquor in Chandrapur district; such decisions have been taken in Gujarat and Bihar, as well as some parts of Kerala. All these states are making progress due to this initiative. We must learn from them.”



During Monday’s meeting, BJP leader Srinath Bhimale proposed that a resolution in this matter be postponed, but Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Bhosale insisted that they take a stand and brook no delays. While the decision was unanimously passed by the general body, when Mirror spoke to some party representatives later, many seemed to dissent about whether this was a practical idea. For instance, Congress party leader in PMC, Arvind Shinde, said, “This is quite impractical, but it depends on the state now. It will decide what it wishes to do.” Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party leader Vasant More echoed, “The SC has already clarified its stand on the liquor ban. Now, PMC has no right to take further decisions in this regard. It is just a publicity stunt. RPI (A) is in the ruling BJP’s coalition, with its leader, Member of Parliament (MP) Ramdas Athavale, functioning as a minister at the Centre. They should have taken up this issue at the statelevel — it is not up to PMC to suggest statewide decisions.”



Speaking from the point of view of the excise department Pune circle deputy superintendent Sunil Phulpagar said, “After the SC’s decision earlier this year, illegal liquor sales skyrocketed. It’s not about losing revenue — there are other ways to make up for that. However, we simply do not have the manpower or machinery in place to control illegal sales of alcohol if we implement a ban across the state. This decision is not a practical one at all.”



Such decisions have already been taken in Gujarat and Bihar, and some parts of Kerala. All these states are making progress due to this initiative. We must learn from them