SSD College management wants liquor vend shifted
Gurdeep Singh Mann
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, January 5
Set up in an illegal manner in violation of the Punjab Excise Policy, the liquor vend situated on Amreek Singh Road near the SSD Girls College has not been removed despite repeated complaints.
Exasperated, the college management has decided to take the protest route to get the vend shifted away from their premises.
“Since the vend has been set up quite close to the boundary walls, against the guidelines in this year’s excise policy, we will launch a campaign to get it removed,” said college secretary Anil Bhola.
“After holding consultations with the college president, advocate Nand Lal Garg, secretaries Dr PK Gupta and Ajay Gupta, we will chalk out a strategy to begin a protest against the vend,” Bhola added.
College president Nand Lal Garg, while accusing the Excise Department officials of turning a blind eye to the nuisance the college girls are facing, said, “Apart from sending a representation to the Deputy Commissioner and staging a protest, I will also send a legal notice to the department tomorrow in this regard.”
Garg added that the Excise and Taxation Commissioner (ETC), Punjab, Anurag Verma has been requested over the phone to get it removed at the earliest.
Expressing concern over the department’s failure to abide by the Punjab Excise Policy for this year, he said such vends should be situated 50 meters away from a religious place/educational institutions in urban areas and 100 meters away in rural areas.
Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC) Harpinder Pal Singh Ghotra, however, stated that as per the policy, the distance between the educational institute and liquor vend could be measured from its main entrance.
“Since the vend is situated away from its main entrance, it is not a violation of the excise policy,” Ghotra said.
When asked about why the word ‘gate’ or ‘distance from gate’ is not written in this year’s policy, which should have been done by the department, he said, “No, we can follow the old Excise Policy in such situation.”
College secretary Anil Bhola, however, stated that if the excise authorities are claiming that the liquor vend is away from the college gate, even then the vend has been opened there illegally, as there is another gate of the college which is quite close—less than 50 meters—from the vend.
“Our students are exposed to the liquor vend when they enter or exit through the second gate, adjoining the bank alongside the boundary wall of the bank,” Bhola said.
