The Madya Niyantrana Udyama Committee has requested the Excise Minister of Telangana T Padma Rao to initiate measures to see that liquor consumption is discouraged and restricted.
In a memorandum to the Minister, committee Convenor V Lakshmana Reddy said that the Government should not consider liquor sales as a source of Government revenue and it should not fix targets for the Excise staff for revenue collection. He said that Government itself should run the liquor shops in a limited way, as was being done in Delhi and Tamil Nadu, and the vigilance wing of the Excise department should be strengthened. Among other things, the committee wanted the Government to remove liquor shops located near Schools, Temples and residential areas, and those on the national and state highways; prohibit sale of liquor to people below 21 years of age; appoint village, mandal, district and state level ‘Madya Vimochana prachara committees; spend at least one per cednt of the excise revenue on campaign on the ill-affects of liquor; run the liquor shops only from 11 am to 7 pm; and strictly enforce that drivers on duty were not drunk. (NSS)
