A group of activists have taken it upon themselves to spread awareness among residents of Kharghar for objecting to having liquor shops in the node. Even as on papers, Kharghar was never declared as a ‘dry zone’ or a ‘liquor free’ area, with recent development of liquor shops getting license, residents have been agitated over it. Till the year 2016, Kharghar was under gram panchayat and due to the objection of the residents, Gram Panchayat never gave NOC for having any liquor establishment. In the year 2016, Panvel Municipal Corporation (PCMC) was formed and Kharghar was then governed by PCMC.
Recently, two of the restaurants in Kharghar have received license from state excise department and they have been running the service which has irked the residents. “Kharghar has almost more than 40 colleges and is an education hub. The youth is here and if they get access to liquor easily, it will affect their future. It is important that people are socially aware and hence we have been meeting people in their housing societies and educating them about voicing out the opposition against the liquor serving license being granted,” Deepak Singh, a Kharghar based activist, said.
Kharghar is known to be an educational node and students from across the country stay in Kharghar for educational purposes. “Alcohol starts nuisance in eth area and in sector 12 and sector 10 where the liquor is now available, the nuisance has already started. When the excise department gave the license, there was no objection from any of the political parties, no protests were conducted even as everyone claimed to be against it,” Singh added.
After spreading social awareness, the next step of the activists is to visit the Chief Minister and put forward the issue before him and even then if a solution is not found, the group plans to take the legal way.
“Back in the year 2006, a liquor shop was opened and a protest my residents shut it down. Though no resolution was officially passed as Kharghar being a liquor free zone, gram panchayat backed the emotions of the residents and never gave any NOC. Even after PCMC was formed, no such resolution was passed and hence it became convenient for the government to issue liquor licenses,” a former corporator from Kharghar said.
Meanwhile, Shivani Gupta, a professor of one of the KHarghar based colleges said, “If liquor reached Kharghar, it will reach to the youth and it will be a disaster then. In our housing society too there was a liquor shop that was planned to come up and we objected strongly and hence the society has not yet permitted them to open the shop.”
Singh further said that during their social awareness campaigns, even the people who drink have shown their willingness to object the idea of having liquor shops in Kharghar. “They tell us that liquor is available in adjoining nodes and there is no need for Kharghar to have one,” Singh added.
