Gujarat confidential: No To Liquor

While Gujarat’s decision to relax liquor prohibition in the GIFT City has evoked mixed reactions, the All India Mahila Sanskritik Sangathan (AIMSS), a women’s organisation, has launched a campaign against the move. A group, led by seasoned activist Meenakshi Joshi, held a protest at Sardarbaug in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Similar protests are planned at Vadodara and Surat on Thursday and Friday. Between January 1  and 5, the group is planning to hold a signature campaign against the decision to relax liquor prohibition in GIFT City. On January 6, a Citizens’ Convention is planned to raise the demand to roll back the decision. If the decision goes unchallenged, as per the group, “it will open the avenues for the relaxation in liquor prohibition in totality.”.

For DREAM City

Following the relaxation of liquor prohibition in GIFT City, a demand has been raised to relax liquor prohibition in DREAM (Diamond Research and Mercantile) City in Surat  district, which also houses Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking with The Indian Express, SDB media convener Dinesh Navadiya said, “The state government should allot around 25 hectares of land in DREAM City, and invite 7-star hoteliers, and they should be given permission in this regard. This will benefit the SDB as foreign buyers will come and they can happily stay here and do business. Mumbai is presently the trading hub of diamonds where foreign clients come and stay there with all the facilities. Similar types of facilities should be made in DREAM City.”