Tribal women from Maharashtra’s Chandrapur have sent 80,000 postcards to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan asking to make the district liquor-free, a social activist said on October 7. “This is a last ditch effort by the tribal women of the district to demand a ban on liquor,” said Paromita Goswami, a lawyer and social activist, who led the postcard campaign.
“Sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in the neighbouring districts of Wardha and Gadchiroli. Hence, Chandrapur has turned into a centre for liquor smuggling,” Goswami said. A seven-member panel headed by District Guardian Minister Sanjay Deotale has already submitted a report to the state government in February this year. ”When we met Chavan in April 2012, we were promised that the report would be tabled in the assembly, but nothing has been done so far. “We had also submitted petitions signed by over 100,000 women, 2,200 organisations and many gram panchayats, who supported the prohibition.