By F M Britto
Raipur, April 29, 2020: The women of a village in Chhattisgarh have written letters to their chief minister for moratorium of alcohol in the state even after the lockdown is lifted.
Initiated by their sarpanch (village council chief) Name Bai, a women, nearly 500 women in Devri village have written individual letters to Chief Minister Bupesh Baghel that they have experience peace in the family and village because of the prohibition during the lockdown.
So they have pleaded the chief minister not to re-open the liquor shops after the lockdown, reports Dainik Bhaskar daily.
The village is on the border of Rajnandgaon and Balaud districts of the state. At least six liquor shops exist around within 15 square km, prompting even the youth to taken to alcohol consumption, they say.
Some women have reminded the Congress chief minister that his party had promised the people of the state that they would close down the liquor shops if they get elected to power, which the government had not implanted even after a year.
In their “mann ki bath” (inner thoughts) these women have stated that not alcohol was available to their men during the more than 30 days of lockdown.
And they want the same peace to prevail in the family and village even after the lockdown. If their men could remain without drinking for more than 30 days, why can’t they remain so further, they ask. The village and its residents get a bad reputation because of alcohol consumers, they state.
The women commando and the women self-help groups also have joined together in making this appeal.