The Andhra Pradesh government rather than solving the problems of the farmers and migrant workers was more worried about those into liquor trade, TDP president and former chief minister Mr N Chandrababu Naidu said while asking if the government was working for welfare of the people of Andhra Pradesh or is it working for profiteering of liquor distillery owners and alcohol sellers.
Addressing the video-conference with party leaders, Naidu said the government was more worried about losing liquor money, but not concerned about the public health safety. He said allowing liquor sale during the ongoing nationwide lockdown has caused unmanageable over-crowding at liquor stores, making social distancing impossible and defeating the very purpose of a lockdown. “Where was the urgency for the Jagan government to allow liqour sales at a time the corona positive cases in the state are surging every day,” he questioned.
He said the Jagan government was acting under the pressure of liquor lobby to open wine shops. “Opening liquor stores will increase the chances of people getting affected by the coronavirus. This will adversely impact the benefits accrued through the Covid-19 lockdown. Consumption of liquor will have both a short- and a long-term impact on health and safety. In the short-term, alcohol abuse suprresses multiple aspects of the body’s immune system repsonse, with particular effects on lungs ablility to fight off infections like Covid-19, said. Is liquor the latest in the government’s essentials list,” he asked. While there are stringent time curbs for buying essentials such as groceries and vegetables from 7 am to 11 am, the state government has allowed the sale of liquor from 11 am to 7 pm. This is a dubious policy, slammed Naidu.
The YSRCP ruling in a hurry to fill its coffers allowed alcohol to flow in the state, queues snaked several liquor stores in Andhra Pradesh as thirsty tipplers thronged the outlets in the green and orange zones on Monday after the government permitted restricted liquor sales. In some places in the districts, people had reportedly began queuing up in the night itself even as alcohol got expensive by at least 25 per cent. The government is likely to mop up an additional Rs 4,500-Rs 5,000 crore to its coffer by hiking liqour prices by 25 per cent.
Earlier, with people thronging the liquor outlets, TDP president and former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu took to the Twitter to express his anguish over the long queues that stretched to as far as five to six kilometers.
On Monday, Naidu expressed concern that such long queues could potentially trigger surge in the number of positive cases.
“Shocked to see today’s scenes at #LiquorShops in Andhra Pradesh. Common sense says that people will throng in large numbers, but there is no contingency plan from @ysjagan nor is there a care for social distance. This comes amidst the steep rise in #Covid19 cases in,” Naidu wrote his in Twitter handle. He posted several videos showing people in long queues.
