Respect panchayat decisions: NGOs
Sunday, 12/08/2012
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120812/punjab.htm#9
Sangrur: Two local NGOs - Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum, People For Transparency - today asked the Punjab Government to scrap Section 40(2) of the Punjab Panchayati Raj Act 1994 that empowers the Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, to reject (on one account or the other) the resolution passed by a panchayat not to open a liquor shop in its village.
The NGOs’ demand was also supported by Project Director, Red Cross Drug De-addiction Centre, Sangrur, Mohan Sharma.
The leaders of the NGOs Dr AS Mann and Kamal Anand asked the state government to respect the resolutions passed by the panchayats in this regard.
They also appealed to the panchayats to pass their resolutions till September 30 - the last date for passing the resolution on not opening a liquor shop in their village - for submission to the Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, Punjab.
Dr Mann said that during the past three years, 37 liquor shops were closed in villages of Sangrur district as their panchayats had passed resolutions in this regard.
He said that during 2011-12, 55 panchayats of Sangrur district had passed resolutions not to open liquor vends in their villages during 2012-13. But only 14 shops had been closed in the villages during this financial year while resolutions of 24 panchayats had been rejected. In 17 cases, the liquor shops were shifted to other places, he added.
Kamal Anand said that in the past five years, the number of liquor shops in Sangrur district had increased in a big way as during 2007-08, there were only 507 liquor outlets in the district which had now been increased to 654.
