Bharat Singh, a former minister from the Congress Party and current Member of Legislative Assembly of Sangod has written a letter to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan asking him to reopen the liquor shops in the state. He claims that it would kill the virus.
In his letter addressed to Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, he has demanded to remove the ban of liquor shops in the state. He further goes on to say that,
“When alcohol can remove COVID-19 virus with handwash, it is sure to remove the virus from a booze guzzler’s throat.”
Divisive opinions on the opening of liquor shops
The central government has categorically denied the functioning of alcohol in the country. In Rajasthan, the spike in demand for the liquor has given rise to illegal alcohol smuggling. Recently, two people in the state have died after consuming the liquor of the black market. Despite that, the Congress MLA has written a letter demanding the reopening of the shops as he cites a bizarre reason as justification. Another Congress MLA Balwan Singh has also written a letter to the Chief Minister urging him to grant permission to open up alcohol sales.
There have been contrary opinions on the blanket ban on the sale of liquors in the country. While it restricts people from gathering, there has been an opinion that the lack of access to alcohol might also lead to death. In Kerala, last month, it was reported that the state has more deaths due to the unavailability of alcohol than from COVID-19. The Kerala government had also proposed relaxation on the ban of alcohol but the High Court of Kerala struck it down. On the other hand, the Karnataka government announced on Thursday that it is in favor of opening up shopping malls and liquor shops in the non-containment zone. The notification and approval from the center are awaited.
So far, as of May 1st, Rajasthan has reported 2615 positive cases out of which 58 have resulted in deaths. Rajasthan has fairly a good recovery rate with 900 people recovered. Rajasthan’s Bhilwara that was hailed as a success story has contained the cases with only 5 remaining active cases in the district.
Source: The Times of India
