Withdraw order on allowing departmental stores to sell beer: Mir

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 14: Apni Party senior vice president, Ghulam Hassan Mir today appealed to the Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha to withdraw the order granting permission to the departmental stores in J&K to sell beer keeping in view the sentiments of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a well-attended joining programme at Apni Party office in Gandhi Nagar, Hassan Mir said that the LG should rethink and withdraw the order in the public interest.
“The society in J&K, irrespective of religious identity, does not accept liquor or open sale of beer in departmental stores. It is considered a stigma,” he said.
He further said that the Govt should respect the sentiments of the people and disapproval of the people. Therefore, the order should be withdrawn and the LG administration should leave such decisions to the elected Govt, he added.
“The decisions which are taken without consulting the public representatives often land the Govt in trouble. Therefore, let the assembly elections be held and then the decision should be left to an elected Govt,” he added.
He was addressing a joining programme which was organised by District president Rural-B, Harpreet Singh in which dozens of people from RS Pura joined the Apni Party. These people were welcomed into the Party by Ghulam Hassan Mir.
Welcoming them into the Party fold, he said that “People in Jammu have attracted towards Apni Party due to the programmes and policy of the party which does not believe in regions. But want to keep the people of both the regions united and take the people of Jammu as well as Kashmir along.”
“If Apni Party forms the next Govt it will implement the Social Security Scheme in the interest of the people. We will enhance the window pension up to Rs 5000, will give four cooking gas cylinders in a year under Ujjwala Scheme and provide 500 units of free electricity during summer and 300 units of free electricity during winters to the people in Jammu,” Mir claimed.
Prominent among those who were present on the occasion include, Vijay Bakaya, Manjit Singh, Faqir Nath, Arun Kumar Chibber, Dr Rohit Gupta, Raman Thappa, Bodh Raj Bhagat, Saleem Choudhary, Madan Lal Chalotra, Bhagat Ram, Abhay Bakaya and others.