‘Liquor consumption down by 50%’

VIJAYAWADA: MLC Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad said liquor consumption in the state reduced by 50 per cent in just 20 months of YSR Congress coming into power. “The number of liquor stores was reduced to 2,900 from 4,500, and a total ban on liquor can be achieved only if the belt shops are closed,” he opined. 

The MLC was speaking at a meet organised by the AP Madya Vimochana Prachara Committee to mark the 75th year of Independence, at KBN Degree College here on Thursday. The meeting was presided by committee chairman V Lakshman Reddy. 

Recalling how Mahatma Gandhi had worked tirelessly against alcoholism during the Independence movement, Vara Prasad said Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was trying to replicate the same in the state. “Poor and middle class families are the worst-affected by alcoholism.”

Stating that if one becomes addicted in adolescence then it becomes a focal point for many misfortunes, Lakshman Reddy asked students to identify those addicted to bad habits and take them to de-addiction centres run by the government.