Bhopal: A heavy police force was deployed in Professor’s Colony and Banganga area of the state capital on Friday (July 17, 2926) as a good number of women and others from these localities took to the streets to protest against shifting of a liquor shop to a place which is in the vicinity of their localities.
The place is in the vicinity of Lok Bhavan ( earlier known as Raj Bhavan) and the state capital’s cultural activities hub Ravindra Bhavan also.
The liquor shop shifting took the residents of the locality by surprise as it was unimaginable for the residents that the district administration would allow any contractor to run his liquor shop from this point.
This place is not only sensitive because of Lok Bhavan, Ravindra Bhavan, Directorate of Public Relations, Ustad Allauddin Khan Sangeet Academy and certain other government offices being situated in the vicinity but also because of the fact the adjacent road is the main road for the chief minister’s motorcade to reach the state secretariat daily.
A number of Congress workers too joined the protesters to raise their voice on shifting of the liquor shop which was earlier running from a shop near Polytechnic Square.
Residents of the Professor’s colony had already been protesting against running of the liquor shop near Polytechnic Square for quite some time, hence the decision of the contractor to shift the shop to the new place, hardly 250 meters away.
The contractor concerned offered a plea to the protesters that the shop was not causing any convenience to anyone as it was situated over a nullah and it was quite away from the residential locality.
It is reported that to facilitate shifting of the shop to the new place first a concrete slab was placed over the nullah and then a tin shed was constructed over there.
The protesters alleged that the shop would create problems for them as it would see gathering of anti-social elements and women from Banganga slum who visit Professor’s Colony houses for domestic work would face inconvenience due to this gathering almost daily.
They said they enjoyed a feeling of security in the area given movement of the VIPs and presence of Lok Bhavan and several government offices but not any more given running of the liquor shop.
The contractor and the police tried to persuade the protesters to suspend their protest but they didn’t budge from the state. Eventually, the contractor shut down the shop and went away.
