PANAJI:
The villagers of Surla on Tuesday met the excise commissioner with a demand to permanently cancel the licenses of all eight liquor outlets in Surla village of Sattari taluka located on the Goa-Karnataka border.
It may be recalled that earlier after the Surla panchayat in September this year had revoked the no-objection certificate of the bars, the Excise Commissioner had suspended the licences of all eight liquor outlets and the bar owners had challenged this order in the High Court.
Meanwhile, the hearing on the showcause notices issued to the licence holders is going on before the excise commissioner.
The members from the 80-odd families of Surla village under the banner of Surla Nagarik Samiti met excise commissioner Amit Satija on Tuesday.
The entire village of Surla had risen against the liquor outlets because of the nuisance faced by them in their daily lives as hordes of tourists from Karnataka used to frequently visit the village and often misbehave with locals in an inebriated state.
After a sustained campaign by the villagers for the last five months and the decision of the local panchayat to withdraw the trade licences of the liquor outlets, the North Goa collector Levinson Martins had temporarily shut down the outlets.
The people have said that the bar owners have backtracked from their assurance of shutting down bars on their own.
The Surla Nagarik Samiti president Ganu Gaonkar, panch member Suryakant Gaonkar, deputy president of the Samiti Santosh Gaonkar, secretary Sagun Gaonkar, Vasudev Gaonkar were among those present before the excise commissioner on Tuesday.
The excise commissioner informed the villagers from Surla that the bar owners have approached the High Court and the hearing is going on. Once the court decides on the matter, the decision will be taken based on the order of the court.
