Date:20/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/20/stories/2008032052440300.htm

Karnataka - Gulbarga

Excise officials accused of ‘inaction’

Special Correspondent

They have failed in cracking down on violations by bar owners: sangha

GULBARGA: Members of the D.K. Shivakumar Abhimanigala Sangha staged a dharna at the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Excise Department here on Wednesday in protest against the “inaction” of officials in preventing violations by retail wine merchants and bar owners.

The protesters led by sangha vice-president Vijayakumar B. Patil barged into the office complex of the department and staged a dharna on the corridors.

They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Excise Commissioner to the local officials.

Neither retail wine merchants nor bar owners followed the rule that they should open the shops or bars only at 10 a.m. and close them by 11 p.m. After the ban on sale of arrack came into force, retail wine shops in the city and other parts of the district had been keeping their establishments open from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., they alleged.

Also, retail merchants as well as bar owners were charging 5 to 10 per cent more than the maximum retail price. Most of the hotels and dhabas were allowing customers to consume liquor in violation of the law, the sangha members said. The sangha warned that if these violations were not looked into immediately, it would be forced to launch a sustained agitation against the department.