While the entire world is focusing on the steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Andhra Pradesh government was endangering the lives of people of Andhra Pradesh with its flawed polices, commented TDP president and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday.
Addressing a press briefing in Hyderabad, Mr Naidu questioned the wisdom of the Jagan government in allowing liquor sales at a time when Andhra Pradesh was witnessing a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases. AP reported 67 new cases on Tuesday taking the tally to 1,717.
Mr Naidu said the government was more worried about losing liquor money, but not concerned about the public health safety. 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. “Huge crowds completely broke lockdown norms. There was an open violation of social distancing. Has the government lost its sense? On the one hand, the government propagates social distancing norm and on the other it allows people to break the rule. The government’s decision led to utter chaos and confusion. 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? People from other states have come to AP to purchase liquor. Why couldn’t the government wait for some more days,” he questioned. Further, he said it was unfortunate that the government had employed school teachers to regulate the long queues outside the wine shops. “This government has stooped low by employing school teachers to regulate the queues outside the wine shops. What message is the government sending? Is this how you respect teachers who shape future generations,” Mr Naidu asked.
On Monday, lakhs of people jostled for alcohol, triggering chaos, police action, and fear of Covid-19 spread as booze shops opened after more than 40 days in green and orange zones.
“Andhra Pradesh is already battling the Covid-19 pandemic. It is now confronted with the deadly alcohol crisis in the midst of surging positive cases of corona virus and deaths due to the pandemic. Liquor sales have triggered acts of violence, spate of suicides and alcohol driven mishaps across the state,” he said. The opening of liquor stores has led to further aggression and violence against women at home, he said while citing an incident in Chittoor’s Palamneru. “A man who heavily consumed liquor thrashed his wife and daughter. Unable to bear the domestic violence, mother and daughter duo committed suicide by hanging themselves.” The incident occurred on Monday when Chokkalingam in a drunken state beat up his wife and daughter who committed suicide unable to bear the humiliation. Mr Naidu also cited several other incidents of violence triggered after consumption of liquor.
The former CM also questioned the government’s decision to hike liquor prices by 75% to mop up Rs 9,000 crore revenues. Mr Naidu said the move causes additional burden on the people who are already affected the lockdown. “People have lost their livelihood due to the lockdown. Now, people will spend their last penny on liquor. The government’s logic of hiking the prices is to discourage people from drinking. Is this how the government intends to discourage people from drinking? The government needs to find more permanent solutions. First, it should drastically reduce the availability of liquor. It should also sensitize people on the ill-effects of alcohol. The government has not done any of these. Instead, the government had sold substandard and cheap liquor endangering the lives of the people,” he said.
The Andhra Pradesh government rather than solving the problems of the farmers and migrant workers was more worried about those into liquor trade, Mr 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. “The government had asked the farmers not to come to market yards to sell produce stating that it would directly procure from their doorstep. What kind of logic is this? You disallow farmers from selling produce in market yards and allow liquor stores from 11 am to 7 pm. Further, the state government said will procure the entire produce of the farmers, but their produce has remained unsold at most places in the state,” he said while pointing out that several farmers had to end their lives as they incurred loss since they could not sell their produce due to the lockdown curbs.
