Tribal people of Marichetlapalem, a remote village near Chimakurthy in Prakasam district, have thwarted an attempt to set up a liquor shop in their area.
With the Supreme Court restricting location of liquor shops on national and state highways, one of the licencees took on lease a piece of private land from a farmer in the village and made arrangements to shift his outlet to the place.
Worried that the wine shop would disturb peace in the village, the men and women decided to fight against it. They also feared that liquor was sure to snatch whatever little money they earned after a hard grind, according to Yanadi Sangam president P. Narasimhum, who was the rallying point for the 50 families.
“Our men abstained from liquor for long,” said P. Padma, in a conversation with The Hindu.
“We constantly live in fear of a wine shop coming up closer to our locality due to political pressure,” adds P. Kumari.
Collector’s assurance
“Initially, we appealed to the land owner not to part with his land for liquor business. When our pleas fell on deaf ears, we ran from pillar to post meeting revenue, excise and police officials who maintained that they were helpless as the selected site was a private land.
“Our persistence paid dividends finally with District Collector V. Vinay Chand giving a listening ear to them. We are thankful to the Collector for assuring us that there will be no liquor shop in our locality.”
Despite working hard all day, men earn about ₹200 each per day and women ₹100 each.
With this income, they are already finding it difficult to make both ends meet due to price rise, says P. Venkayamma.
The united struggle by the tribal people has given a fillip to the campaign of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) ‘Maa vuriki madhyam oddu’ (No liquor in our villages), its leader K. Aruna says, adding people of nearby Budawada prevented two liquor shops coming up in the village.
“The NFIW will replicate the Merichetlapalem experience in other places to build a strong movement by local people to prevent opening of liquor shops in residential areas,” she says.
“We are asking the licencees to look for alternative premises in case there is a resistance to opening of liquor shops,” according to Excise Superintendent T. Srinivasa Rao. Licences have been renewed for 105 out of 154 liquor shops in Ongole Excise district.