Residents want liquor shop shut

Panchkula, April 27: The residents of Sector 18 are a harassed lot as a liquor vend in vicinity continue to pose problems for them. Though t...

Panchkula, April 27: The residents of Sector 18 are a harassed lot as a liquor vend in vicinity continue to pose problems for them. Though the agitated residents took the matter to court which decided in their favour, their problem has remained largely unsolved.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the closure of the vend, which was earlier situated in a residential house. The court had also directed that no liquor shop should be opened in a residential house. Following the directions the vend was closed down but another one came up a few metres away.

K.K. Sharma, the president of the sector’s welfare society says, "Undesirable characters stalk the street in the evening making it virtually impossible for those living in immediate neighbourhood to move around freely."

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The residents complain that drunken brawls are common. "Children and women cannot go out once it gets dark as drunkards keep hurling all kinds of abuses at each other," says Rohini who lives nearby. Moreover, people claim that the area on which the vend is situated is earmarked as green belt.

Repeated requests to authorities to look into the matter have fallen on deaf ears. The officials in HUDA pass the buck to Housing Society which they say overlooks and maintains Sector 18. The officials in excise and taxation office deny that the residents are facing any problems.

P.D. Aggarwal, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner says, "The vend was shifted from the residential house following the courts directions. The land on which the vend is situated is most probably not a part of the green belt. Also nowhere in our rules of balloting vend sites is it mentioned that the area should not be residential. In fact the place has to be isolated."