AP Women representatives raised protest against Liqour policy

Andhra Pradesh: Amaravati, June 30: The Andhra Pradesh Women representatives from various organizations and political parties have staged a protest against State's liquor policy at Velagapudi here on Thursday.

The President of AP Mahila Congress Sunkara Padmasri said "the new policy increases the validity of the license from two years to five years.

According to the Supreme Court's order, the shops close to the highways had to be removed but they have now been shifting to the residential areas and close to schools and temples; such shops should be removed," and added "the new liquor policy was supposed to reduce the inflow of liquor but it has in fact led to an increase in it."

Some of the demands put forward by the women were that a new policy should be made, the licenses given to the new shops be withdrawn, one day of the week should be declared as a dry day, the term of the license issued must be reverted to two years.

The shops in residential areas and those in close proximity to schools, temples, railway stations and bus stations should be shut down, the areas which do not have any liquor shops should be kept the same way, a campaign must be conducted against the consumption of liquor and compensation should be paid to families whose members have lost their lives due to liquor consumption.