Surla villagers resolve to shut down all bars

VALPOI: Surla villagers during the special gram sabha held on Sunday at the village temple passed a historical resolution seeking revocation of ‘liquor vending’ licences of all the bars operating in the village.

Around 211 villagers attended the meeting while 201 villagers voted in favour of the resolution seeking revocation of the licences of bars operating in the village.

It may be noted that after the repeated agitation by villagers, North Goa District Collector had passed an order to ban the sale of alcohol in Surla village for 30 days.

On Sunday, during the special gram sabha meeting, villagers present were in favour of a resolution to revoke the licences of liquor outlets permanently.

Stating that banning liquor for some days will not resolve the issue of tourists from the neighbouring state of Karnataka harassing them in an inebriated state after visiting the bars in the village, the Surla villagers remained firm on their decision to seek a permanent ban on the liquor outlets.

The Thane village panchayat will now discuss and consider this resolution in the panchayat body meeting and later it will be forwarded to the state government for a complete ban on liquor outlets by revoking the no-objection certificates (NOCs) of the bars operating in the Surla village, which is in the jurisdiction of the Thane village panchayat, said a panch member.

Panchayat secretary Sarvesh Gaonkar, sarpanch Sarita Gaonkar, deputy sarpanch and Surla panch member Suryakant Gaonkar and other panch members Govind Korgaonkar, Nilesh Parwar, Satyawan Gaonkar were present at the gram sabha.