Women win battle against booze shop in hsg complex in Mumbai region

Navi Mumbai: The Raigad district Collector has rejected the permission for opening a liquor shop in a residential complex in Panvel in Mumbai Metropolitan Region following a series of protests from women residents, housing society association, and activists.

“We received a communique from the Excise department to this effect in response to our query through the RTI route,” said social activist B N Kumar, convenor Alert Citizens’ Team (ACT) which had initiated a silent human chain protest on July 28 at the Enkay Heritage Cooperative Housing Society in which many women, and children participated apart from men.

Kumar then sent an email to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde drawing his attention to the protest and appealed to the government to consider the sentiments of the women .

The local people genuinely apprehend a law-and-order situation if the liquor shop was allowed to open, that too next to the main entrance of the building, Kumar said.

Later, over 50 women signed a memorandum to the Chief Minister which ACT forwarded to Shinde.

The CM’s Office sent both the emails to the State Excise Department which in turn asked its Raigad division to investigate the issue.

Kumar subsequently filed an application with the Excise Department under the Right To Information (RTI) Act asking for the status of the emails from the CM. This was forwarded to the district excise office at Alibaug which responded to Kumar giving the proceedings at the district collector’s office.

The residents’ association, led by advocate Jaysing Shere, meanwhile, made a representation to Collector Kisan N Jawale who called for a site inspection.

The Excise department teams reported that the proposed shop is 144 meters away from the entrance of the famous Sai Baba temple and there are no other hindrances such as statues of any national figure, educational institution and the state highway in the vicinity.

But the collector took the women’s “severe opposition” into account and finally rejected the proposal for the liquor shop, as per the RTI response,

Some unscrupulous consumers tend to drink liquor right at the shops and make snide remarks, in an inebriated condition, against girls and women which could lead to quarrels, society general secretary Naresh Gaikwad said.

“As it is, many drunkards in the area create trouble after consuming liquor from bars and shops in the neighbourhood,” said a housewife from the society. “And we do not want this menace spreading to our compound,” she said.

The liquor shop is slated to be shifted to Enkay Heritage Cooperative Housing Society from another building under redevelopment.