Alcohol prohibition in Odisha Village After sexual harassment

Nuapada: The young people of the hamlet of Dharambandha have achieved a feat not many can brag of. They have prohibited the purchase and sale of alcohol with the Sarpanch assistance.

Because people's health deteriorated owing to excessive drinking, the prohibition on alcohol looked essential. Alcohol was the cause of most deaths in the hamlet. Moreover it was sold on the streets and the people began to purchase their savings. There has also been an upsurge in atrocities against women and in domestic violence. Even the youngsters of the community began to drink alcohol with the money to buy goods.

But the event in mid-September this year inspired the young people to take action. In the village canal a group of ladies from the village went for a bath, serving and distributing wine to certain males. Those males started to annoy women soon. The drunkards began abussing them when ladies complained.

The local youth resolved to remove this problem from its origins and began a drinking addiction campaign in Dharambandha, but no formal plaintiff had been recorded with the police.

They came to Sarpanch, where the decision to ban booze was taken by common consent and the Gram Sabha congregation took place.

Nobody can therefore build a liquor shop or a stove to make booze. Somebody found peddling alcohol is fined Rs 51,000 and ordered to tour the village with a set of slippers and shoes. A detected individual who purchases alcohol may be fined Rs 5,100.

The ban has been enforced by an Action Committee comprising 25 Dharambandha men and 25 women. They are supervised by five senior members. The task of the committee is to carry out raids at sales locations on the basis of information collected.

In addition, village dwellers sent letters notifying them of the campaign and assuring their assistance to Dharambandha Police Station, the SP Office and the Excise Department.

With the ban on domestic abuse, cases have been discovered, and the emphasis is on village sanitation and growth. The focus on study and athletics is on children and young people.

In 1994, following a May 1992 event in Cuttack that killed over 200 people and hospitalised 600 others after drinking spuriosity, Odisha in particular outlawed alcohol. The 1995 government of the Congress removed the restriction on the basis that it caused enormous revenue losses.

"Nearly one in five consumers of alcohol are dependent upon and need immediate treatment," says an AIIMS Study in Delhi. The number of individuals in India who require immediate treatment is set at 5.7 crore, with alcohol addicts at 3.2 crores. Alcohol intake is also closely associated with women's offences."