JAIPUR: With rampant consumption of liquor by male members ruining several families in the villages of Talajanga panchayat under Dharmasala police limits, women have taken the initiative to end the menace by taking out campaigns and creating awareness.
More than 300 women of Talajanga, Talagada, Uppergada, Nuagada, Rampur and Kaitha villages have been staging protests for the past couple of days and their movement has received the support from other women in the neighbouring areas.
Sources said the panchayat neither has a Government auctioned country liquor nor authorised liquor vendor. But, both varieties of liquor are easily available in almost all the villages due to illegal sale at nearly a dozen places. Adding to it is the uninterrupted availability of smuggled liquor which is easily available to the regular clients.
The women said many of the consumers are daily wage earners who end up spending their day’s earning on liquor while the women struggle to maintain families.Annoyed, the women took to the streets in large numbers and started campaigning against illegal selling of liquor in their respective villages.
“Many of our villagers are daily wage earners. They spend their entire earning by consuming liquor while family members, including small children, remain starved on several occasions,” said Pratima Swain, leader of the anti-liquor movement.
Another woman leader Subhashree Sethy said, “Due to consumption of liquor by men in the region, cases of crime against women, domestic violence, murder, snatching and brawl among villagers have become the order of the day. We then decided to get together and start awareness against alcoholism in the areas.”
The women of the village, most of them SHG members, have been periodically organising rallies and demonstrations in the areas.
Earlier, the women had met Excise officials and sought action against persons indulging in illegal sale of smuggled liquor but no action has been taken as yet, they alleged.