Gzb MLA supports residents seeking closure of liquor shops in Indirapuram
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Gzb MLA supports residents seeking closure of liquor shops in Indirapuram

Residents of Divyansh Pratham, a high-rise in Indirapuram, have been protesting against the liquor shop situated next to their society for the past two years.

Gzb MLA supports residents seeking closure of liquor shops in Indirapuram

Perturbed by the problems arising because of two liquor shops located in the close vicinity, the residents of Ahinsa Khand II in Indirapuram have been knocking at every possible door for the past two years, from the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to city administration.

In a relief for the residents, Sunil Sharma, MLA of Sahibabad, has taken cognizance of their problem. Sharma has written a letter to GDA asking the civic authority to take note of residents’ complaint.

The residents have been complaining about the two liquor stores for some time now. While one of the shops is situated next to a high-rise apartment, Divyansh Pratham, the other one is located at the ground floor of plot no. 12 and 13, right next to Shanti Gopal Hospital.

"As the shop is located right next to our society, people park their vehicles in front of the society gate and consume liquor openly. They often get into a fight with society’s security guards when asked to move away from the gate,” Kapil Tyagi, secretary of AOA of the society, said.

Tyagi added that there have been many instances where these visitors have harassed women of the society. “They pass lewd comments on women passing by,” he added saying that they have raised these concerns to the excise department, district administration and police in the past but nothing has been done so far.

"Even police told us that they can't do anything in the matter whenever we complained," Tyagi claimed. “The land on which the liquor store is situated is a farm land where no commercial activity is allowed."

Over the last two years, Tyagi said that they have written letters to GDA, district administration and excise department, but unfortunately, none of them paid any heed to their concerns.

Indirapuram-based Federation of Apartments Owners Association (FedAOA) had also recently written to the GDA over the matter. Alok Kumar, president of FedAOA, said that prima facie, these liquor shops are illegal.  "According to the Supreme Court guidelines, no liquor shop can be given a license in close proximity to a place of public resort, school, hospital, place of worship, factory or at the entrance of a market or residential colony," claimed Kumar.

Kumar added that taking encouragement from the negligent behavior of authorities, one more shop has come up right next to a hospital.

“We have been requesting the administration and GDA to shut the liquor shop adjacent to the Divyansh Pratham but our requests have fallen on deaf ears of the system,” he claimed.

The federation also claimed in their letter to GDA that the liquor shop is situated on farm land.

When City Spidey tried to speak to the shopowner of the liquor store situated at plot 12 and and 13, he refused to comment. "We have rented this space. You should speak to the owner of this space for any queries regarding the status of land," a staffer said on the condition of anonymity and refusing to share details about the owner.

Excise inspector Mubarak Ali, when contacted simply repeated his earlier comment, “I'll inspect and investigate the matter." This is the same comment that he had given after the fatal incident where a 26-year-old man had died after falling into the drain running parallel to Divyansh Pratham.

RP Singh, chief of Indirapuram area in GDA, claimed that he has asked the owner of the liquor shop to produce its map and documents before the authority.

Interestingly, both the officers seemed unaware of the claim that the liquor shop situated next to Divyansh Pratham is constructed on a farm land. “We have no idea,” said both the officials when asked about the validity of the claim.