Navi Mumbai: Excise Department To Probe Into Liquor Shop Violations At Housing Society In Panvel

Navi Mumbai: The excise department of Maharashtra government will probe into the violations by the proposed liquor shop at a housing society at Panvel and the concerns over women’s safety and security. This follows Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's response to complaints from Alert Citizens Team (ACT) and local residents, drawing his attention to possible nuisance arising out of the liquor shop at the main entrance of the housing society.

The liquor shop is proposed to be set up at Enkay Heritage cooperative housing society, is just 19 metres from the compound wall of the famous Sai Baba temple at Panvel and 140 metres from the main temple, Adv Jaysing Jagannath Shere, who represented the issue to the Raigad district collector on behalf of the society, said.

“We are deeply concerned, particularly in view of the rising crimes against women and girls,” said a senior lady from the society. ACT, which led a silent human chain at the society in August has said, it is commonly observed that many consumers buy liquor from wine shops and tend to consume outside the shop and some of them pass snide remarks against women and girls. Post the human chain, over 50 women wrote a petition to the CM.

Since this housing complex has several other shops such as grocery, many women go there for shopping, a resident Naresh Gaikwad said and pointed out, “One can visualise the kind of problems the drunkards can create here”.

ACT convenor B N Kumar said the CMO wrote to him directing the excise and home departments to look into the issue. “We followed up via the Right To Information (RTI) Act route and seeking progress after the CM’s mail,” Kumar said.

This has worked and the excise department directed its Raigad district superintendent to make a detailed study and report, a letter signed by L G Thasale, additional public information officer, said.

Adv Shere said he will now follow-up with both the Raigad district excise department as well as the collector as “we cannot allow nuisance at our doorstep”.