No plan to ban alcohol in Delhi: Sisodia

New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia today said the Delhi government has no plan to banliquor in the city even as he maintained that the AAPdispensation does not want to run the city administration withmoney collected from sale of alcohol in the national. The Deputy Chief Minister, who was responding to aquestion of AAP MLA Pankaj Pushkar from Timarpur in theAssembly, accused the Opposition of spreading "misleading"figures on the number of liquor shops in the city to "deceive"the public. Sisodia’s statement comes at a time when there is acontroversy over rise in liquor shops in Delhi. The Deputy CMsaid in many areas, liquor vends have been closed aftercomplaint from public and soon Mohalla Sabhas will take a callon existence of liquor shops. "There is an attempt to create an environment that we arethe liquor mafia. We ended corruption in distribution oflicence for liquor vends and that is why we are beingtargeted. We have shifted liquor shops to mall as they havearrangement to deal with anti-social elements," he said. Sisodia claimed only six retail vends have come up in thecity and the number of other licenced establishments servingalcohol has actually gone down since the AAP assumed office. "I fail to understand how six new retail shops havecontributed towards doubling the revenue collection? A sectionis deliberately misleading and trying to create a wrongperception. It is almost like we have turned into liquor mafiabut no one is noticing how many Ponty Chadhas we have put outof business," he said. "Delhi will become the first place where locals willdecide the location of liquor vends. We have ended theinspector raj and corruption in excise department. Now, anofficer’s job is to stop corruption and don’t think aboutliquor vends. "Earlier, politicians or their relatives used to ownliquor shops, now in our government no MLA supports opening ofvend in his or her area," Sisodia said. The government had recently notified 2,972 mohalla sabhaswhere registered voters will be able to take a call throughvoting on basic or urgent development works and monitorprogress. There are over 460 liquor shops in residentialneighbourhoods. The development comes amid a campaign by the SwarajAbhiyan, led by former AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and PrashantBhushan, against "proliferation" of liquor vends in the city. Quoting an RTI reply from Delhi government’s excisedepartment, the group has claimed that 58 liquor vends hadcome up in the city since last February. (MORE) PTI BUN SBRSMN