Over 850 village panchayats in Haryana say no to liquor vends

Chandigarh: Over 850 village panchayats, or 13 percent out of the total, in Haryana have asked the state not to open a liquor shop in their area from this fiscal, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Friday.

“A total of 872-gram sabhas have passed resolutions against opening liquor vends in their areas and they have sent them to the government,” Khattar told the media here.

Gram sabha is a group of voters in a village.

He said shunning liquor was one of 101 programs launched by his government, which is in coalition with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala.

The state legislative assembly on November 27 last year passed the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, allowing one-tenth of gram sabha members to decide on closure of liquor vends in areas under their panchayat.

Official sources told IANS that authorizing the gram sabhas to close liquor vends was one of the key issues raised by the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP during the poll campaign in Haryana.

To provide relief to the rural population, the government has already started the process of abolishing the practice of ‘Lal Dora’.

‘Lal Dora’ relates to land that is used for non-agricultural purposes and comprises a part of the village habitation. Earlier, the houses or land in the ‘Lal Dora’ area remained unregistered. (IANS)

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