NEW DELHI: The Swaraj Abhiyan organisation led by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan on Saturday blamed the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government of reneging from its promise of reducing alcohol consumption in the city, claiming that 399 new liquor shops have come up across the city ever since AAP came to power.
Recently, the AAP government issued a ban on opening new liquor shops in the city and opening of liquor shops flies on the face of the Kejriwal government, who claims of running a transparent administration. Yogendra Yadav, one of the founding members of Swaraj Abhiyan, said that while the revenue generation and number of retail vending points have grown up, expenditure on de-addiction has reduced manifold. “Of the Rs 600 crore extra revenue generated, AAP hasn’t even spent Rs 1 crore on this,” he said.
During the AAP regime, not a single de-addiction centers has been opened and the government has displayed a mere tokenism by spending a meagre Rs 1.79 lakh on advertisements to discourage alcoholism, he said, adding that even the CAG has rapped the government over its spending for advertising and publicity. “AAP is encouraging and proliferating liquor business in Delhi, exposing its double standards on curbing the sale and proliferation of liquor in the city,” Yadav said.
He said that when the issue was raised in Delhi assembly, the AAP government tried to mislead the public by lying. Not only this, when the government was asked whether the consent of area MLA is required, the Deputy CM answered that there is no such requirement, whereas the fact remains that consent of area MLA before granting of license is part of the government's own policy. The Swaraj Abhian party also released a list of 11 liquor shops, running against the wishes of local residents, and has demanded their immediate closure. Senior party leader Prashant Bhushan has been conducting public hearings with area residents to close down liquor shops.