Thiruvananthapuram Sep 7 (IANS) The Catholic Church in Kerala is upset with the new liquor policy of the state s LDF government as closed bars are being allowed to reopen despite assurances from CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury to the contrary a bishop said on Thursday.
Expressing deep anguish Bishop Mar Remigiose Inchananiyil Syro-Malabar Catholic Diocese of Thamarassery told the media that the present "Left government has cheated".
"Yechury had assured that not a single closed bar would be opened and now it (assurance) has fallen flat. What came as a shock was the relaxation made recently in the distance liquor vends need to keep from educational and religious institutions...it has been reduced from 200 metres to 50 metres " said the bishop.
"It s now clear that money is all supreme and everything comes after it. The liquor policy of the Congress-led UDF (United Democratic Front) was also flawed. We will organise a protest against the new policy " added the bishop.
Yechury had said during the state assembly election campaign that if the Left came to power not a single closed down bar would be reopened.
Incidentally it was the previous Oommen Chandy government that closed down in 2015 around 700 bars with just 24 bars in five-star hotels kept open for serving liquor.
Chandy s policy envisaged a liquor policy through which prohibition would set in in Kerala by 2023.
The CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) had promised ahead of the 2016 assembly election that the front s policy would be set around the policy of abstinence and not prohibition.
A year later after the LDF assumed office the state government laid out the new liquor policy after which on July 2 77 new bars opened and towards the end of last month came the news that 250 more bars were allowed to open.
--IANS
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