‘Women-friendly’ liquor studio in Jalandhar closed now

‘Women-friendly’ liquor studio in Jalandhar closed now
Jalandhar: The opening of a ‘women-friendly’ liquor studio near Kishanpura Chowk here has drawn the ire of residents and leaders of various political parties.After the issue came to the limelight, so-called ‘women-friendly’ liquor studio shut their doors. Now this store is a normal wine shop.

While the concept of the ‘women-friendly’ liquor studio was already there in Madhya Pradesh and Gurugram, this kind of a store has reportedly opened for the first time in Punjab. As soon as the leaders and activists took to social media targeting the ruling AAP government on the issue, the excise officials got the store shut. Even the tagline the ‘women-friendly liquor studio’ was removed from the hoardings outside the shop.

The AAP government came to power on a promise to end the drug menace in Punjab within the first three months of its rule. But the move shows that it has even started luring women into the trap. Amarinder Raja Warring, PCC Chief

“The opening of a shop with the tagline has sent across a wrong message. This government seems to be bent on ruining the families of Punjab”, media in-charge of the Punjab unit of the BJP Janardhan Sharma has said.

Even Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has tweeted, “The AAP government came to power on a promise to end the drug menace in Punjab within the first three months of its rule. But the move shows that they have even started luring women into the trap.”

The shop has opened close to a women college. Principal of Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (KMV) Dr Atima Sharma Dwivedi said, “We condemn the opening of a liquor shop encouraging the footfall of women in our vicinity. This kind of concept cannot in any case be for any constructive purpose.”

Ex-BJP MLA from the area KD Bhandari has said, “This was not the kind of ‘badlav’ that the people had expected from AAP. Clearly, the policies of this government are set to make Punjabis more addict. The worst is that the government has allowed to open three liquor shops along Tanda Road which has two prominent colleges of the city, including KMV and Doaba College. The government’s only agenda seems to be collecting revenue”.

AETC-1 Hanuwant Singh said all licence holders had been allowed to set up two model liquor stores in each zone. “The zone contractor who was from Himachal Pradesh chose to do it this way. But today we got those words ‘objected to’ by the residents removed from the hoarding.”