Silvester D’Souza

Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (EP)

Kundapur, Apr 6: The district liquor merchants' association staged protests in front of the KSBCL depot, near Koteshwar on Wednesday, April 6 against the new KSBCL regulations to buy liquor.

The protesters said that the liquor merchants in the villages are facing problems due to the new regulations and urged permission to buy liquor at least for next one more month on old regulations.

“We are tired of the new regulations passed by the Karnataka State Beverage Corporation Limited (KSBCL) which states that liquor should be bought by web indenting all of a sudden. “It is condemnable that the rules are passed in between opposition without discussing the pros and cons,” they said.

“The new rules allow obtaining permits only between 9 PM and 9 AM the next day. Websites do not work properly in that time period. The website breaks down even till 3 AM due to server problems. Workers are made to skip sleep after working till late night the whole day. We do not oppose the new regulations. But those should be implemented only after sorting out the server problems. Starting the new system all of a sudden causes problems. Purchase of liquor should be permitted for at least one month more based on old regulations,” they urged.

A request was submitted to Bengaluru’s KSBCL managing director Dr P C Jafer through Koteshwar depot manager S B Kattimani in this connection.

Kundapur taluk liquor merchants' association president Rohit Kumar Shetty, vice president Y Karunaker Shetty, Udupi district wine merchants association convener Derick and others were present.