Uttarakhand PCC chief flays state's liquor policy

Hardwar, May 12 (UNI) Uttarakhand Congress unit chief Harish Rawat today flayed the state government's new liquor policy and termed it as an '' abject surrender'' to the liquor mafia.

Talking to newspersons here today, Mr Rawat alleged that the state government formulated its new liquor policy under the influence of the liquor syndicate which had given Rs 50 crore to BJP national president Rajnath Singh for the UP assembly elections. He said under the new excise policy, the rights of giving licences to retail shops were snatched from the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) and Bajpur Co-operative Sugar Mill and the wine barons had been authorised to appoint the retailers.

He expressed concern that this would not only ruin the GMVN, KMVN and the Bajpur Co-operative Sugar Mill, by depriving them of their major source of income, but would also dilute the quality of wine.

'' The Congress workers will burn copies of the notification of the new excise policy throughout the state on May 27, demanding its immediate withdrawal'', he warned.

The state Congress chief also demanded a CBI enquiry into the alleged involvement of a minister of the state in the death of Neelam Sharma, resident of Hardwar, under suspicious circumstances.

He said if the state government was shying away from a CBI enquiry, it should order some other type of high level probe so that people of the state could know the truth of the case.

'' The Chief Minister's silence on the matter exposes the hollowness of his tall claims of probity in public life'', Mr Rawat said.

He severely condemned the Information Department of the state government for asking the media the source on the basis of which they were writing about the minister's alleged involvement in Neelam Sharma's death. It was a clear attempt to gag the press since the government has no constitutional right to ask it to disclose the source of its information, he said.

He said the Congress would not tolerate any attempt to pressurise the media and if the state government did not take back the directive issued to the media, the party would launch a state wide agitation to protect the freedom of the press.

UNI