India News | Villagers Ransack Liquor Outlet, Destroy Its Entire Stock: Police

Jammu, May 28 (PTI) A mob of villagers angry over the opnening of a liquor shop close to a temple, a mosque and a school in their area on outskirts of the city ransacked the outlet and destroyed its entire stock on Saturday, police said.

The villagers also roughed up the owner of the liquor shop in the Khari panchayat in Bishnah area, who had to be rescued by police, they said.

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“We have been demanding the closure of the shop since its opening some time back but the government failed to take action on our repeated requests,” local sarpanch R K Sharma said.

He said the wine shop was set up in an area surrounded by a temple, a mosque and a school. “We do not need wine shops and our protest is against the government which has turned the city of temples into a city of wine shops,” he said.

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Another sarpanch said the protest was jointly organized by the Panchayat Union of Bishnah belt and “we have resolved that we will not allow opening of wine shops in any village”.

“This belt is home to poor farmers and those earning their livelihood through manual work. We will not allow wine shops here,” he said.

Sharma asked the government to provide better opportunities to youths of the area by setting up hospitals, schools and stadiums to channelise youths' energy in a positive direction.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)