BHUBANESWAR: More than three organisations, including Opposition parties, staged a demonstration at Mahatma Gandhi Marg demanding prohibition of liquor in the State.
Activists of BJP Mahila Morcha, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party hit the streets demanding a ban on the sale and manufacture of liquor in the State.
The protest was supported by activists of Odisha Nisha Nibaran Abhiyaan, Milita Mahasangha in Daringbadi and Sachetan Nagarik in Kandhamal.
Holding placards, protestors took out a mass rally demanding implementation of Bihar and Orissa Excise Act, 1956 to minimise liquor-related deaths in the State.
Excise Minister Damodar Rout said complete ban is unrealistic. “We should try to reduce spread of liquor and expansion of alcohol trade,” he added.
The commuters had to face a nightmarish experience due to the protests which clashed with another rally by computer teachers demanding regularisation of their jobs. Traffic was blocked on Janpath from Sriya Square to Station Square for an hour.
“It is high time the State Government should shift the dharna place to Janta Maidan or any other open space in the Capital City. Protests on arterial roads during Assembly session is causing great inconvenience to general public,” a banker Som Rout said.