Reveal Names In Liquor Mafia: LS

The Lok Satta Party on Tuesday demanded that the state government disclose the names of people's representatives, officials and others who have received kickbacks from liquor syndicates.

It may be recalled that the state's Anti Corruption Bureau had raided the offices of liquor syndicates, and had seized documents testifying to the payment of bribes to influential people for conniving in their illegal activities.

Addressing a media conference, Lok Satta Party Acting Working President V Laxman Balaji and other leaders said that the government must inquire into the scam without delay and mete out stringent punishment, including the confiscation of ill-gotten property from the guilty.

The leaders recalled that it was only the Lok Satta Party which had agitated against the auction of liquor shops as it had anticipated its inexorable consequences.

Those who obtained liquor shops at exorbitant rates have been indulging in malpractices like selling alcohol at more than maximum retail prices, palming off spurious liquor, encouraging the opening of belt shops, and running unofficial bars at licensed retail outlets.

They alleged that traditional political parties like the Congress and the Telugu Desam, which believe in luring voters with liquor, running liquor shops in benami names, and accepting party funds from the liquor mafia, did not join Lok Satta in its agitation.

Both the Congress and the TDP were guilty of turning liquor into a cash cow for the state exchequer and ruining the health and finances of the poor, the Lok Satta leaders charged.

The poor are squandering their earnings under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on consuming liquor, as liquor shops have become omnipresent.

The Lok Satta leaders demanded that the government publish a white paper on the funds it spends on the welfare of the poor and the revenue it derives from liquor sales.

The Lok Satta leaders demanded that the government run liquor shops by doing away with the auction system.

It should put an end to belt shops and illicit liquor, and drastically regulate the number of liquor outlets, they demanded.

Village panchayats should have the freedom to decide whether there should be a liquor outlet in the village or not, they added. (INN)