I have also tasted alcohol, prohibition will not solve anything: Karnataka CM on liquor ban
- The discussion in the Karnataka Assembly on the ban on liquor shops on highways was sprinkled with humorous anecdotes
- Jokes aside, CM Siddaramaiah stated that the govt was concerned about the livelihood of those working in liquor stores on highways
- In a bid to lower the effect of the Supreme Court ban, Karnataka state has chosen to denotify many highways.
FollowTaking into account the risks of driving under the influence of alcohol, the Supreme Court has ordered the closure of liquor stores within 500 meters of state and national highways by June 30. Ironically, the subject ended up being the source of comic relief to Karnataka’s elected representatives during the ongoing monsoon session.
Thursday saw Chief Minister Siddaramaiah justifying his government’s decision to denotify state and national highways passing through towns and cities in a bid to bring reprieve to the scores of liquor stores operating on highways.
In the process, not only did the Chief Minister confess to a drinking habit of his own, he also clarified that prohibition would not really serve the purpose it hopes to achieve. The discussion started with two BJP MLCs asking Siddaramaiah whether the government was trying to circumvent the Supreme Court order by denotifying state and national highways.
Siddaramaiah said that the government had no intention of circumventing the Supreme Court order. He however said that the government was concerned about the livelihood of thousands of people who were reliant on the trade.
He said that prohibition on sale of alcohol was also not the answer. He said that though there was prohibitory orders in Gujarat, alcohol consumption had neither stopped nor gone down. It had in turn led to bootlegging.
In Karnataka too, the ban on arrack sale had only led to people shifting to whisky. “Earlier a packet of arrack was available at Rs 12, but now people have to pay Rs 100 for a packet of whisky,” said Siddaramaiah.
JD(S) MLC K T Srikante Gowda was of the opinion that beer was a better option than whisky. “Beer is good for health,” he said. Siddaramaiah was quick to interject. “Is this what you teach your students these days?” he asked Gowda, making a reference to the MLC’s teaching profession. Siddaramaiah didn’t stop at that. “In fact a whisky named Teacher’s is also available,” he said, cracking up the members of the House.
BJP MLC Ramachandra Gowda, provided more comic relief by saying, “Whisky after beer is risky.” Continuing with his banter, Siddaramaiah said both he and MLC Shanappa had a lot of “experience” in the matter. He also asked leader of the Opposition in the Council, K S Eshwarappa if he had a drinking habit.
Subsequently, Eshwarappa accused that the government was indeed circumventing the SC order, as it has yielded to the liquor lobby. Dismissing the charges, Siddaramaiah said that the SC order mandated that all stores on highways be shifted on or before June 30, and the government had already started work in this direction. As many as 38 stores had been shifted away from the highways.
Efforts were on to vacate more number of stores before the stipulated time frame. The State cabinet on June 7 had taken a decision to write to the Centre to denotify national and state highways passing through towns and cities, and hand over the maintenance of these roads to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
