Cong govt keen to open liquor shops but closing schools, colleges: Jai Ram

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur today lashed out at the state government for closing schools and colleges but showing eagerness to open more liquor shops to generate income.

Thakur, in a statement issued here, said that a new model of ‘vyavastah parivartan’ was being implemented in the state under the Congress government where thousands of schools and colleges were being closed every year and hundreds of liquor shops even near schools and other major places were being opened.

He said that the government should refrain from such decisions and think about the interests of children studying in schools instead of priortising the opening of liquor shops. “When local women had protested against the opening of a liquor shop near an anganwari in Bilaspur last year, an officer of this government had said that the anganwari centre could be shifted somewhere else,” he added.

Thakur said, “Is this the Chief Minister’s road map for a self-reliant Himachal. People are protesting against the opening of liquor shops near schools but the government is just not willing to listen to them, forcing them seek justice in the court of law.”

He said that the government was now forcing municipal corporations to run unallotted liquor shops. “Municipal corporations are facing a shortage of resources and have many problems of their own but the government is pressuring them to run liquor vends, which remained unsold even after repeated auctions,” he added.