Dehra Dun : Women in this small hill state are generally known to oppose the opening of liquor vends in their area, but going by the recent allotment of liquor vends by the Uttarakhand government, the large number of women applicants for a liquor outlet indicate that the lure of the moolah has brought them into what is considered a strongly male domain.
According to information for the vends in Dehra Dun district, threw were 170 female applicants for IMFL vend at Niranjanpur, 159 for the outlet at Rajpur, 155 for Premnagar, 113 for Raipur, 128 for Shastrinagar, 102 for Kanwli and 148 for Patelnagar. Besides ther were a number of other vends where there were more than 50 women applicants.
A senior excise official on conditions of anonymity said that majority of the female applicants were either wives of those in the liqour trade who had also asked their wives to apply or were wives of government officials wanting to enter the business. “As the allotments were to be done by lottery, the more the applications, the better the chances of getting a vend”, he claimed.
However, he did not rule out that there were some women who had in the past also made efforts to get liquor also and were keen to get into the business in partnership with those who have experience of the trade. “If you have a vend allotted it becomes that much easier to get a partner with experience in the trade, as there may be some who may not have got any vend this year”, he pointed out.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
