Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has expressed its shock and dismay over the way youth in  the state was being pushed into the liquor consumption

Chandigarh, February 23 : Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has expressed its shock and dismay over the way youth in  the state was being pushed into the liquor consumption, stating that liquor mafia was active in the state under the protective patronage of the subsequent governments.

 In a joint statement issued from the party headquarters in Chandigarh here on Saturday, young MLA from Bathinda (Rural) Rupinder Ruby, said that the government and the liquor mafia were solely responsible for spoiling the youth in the state, stating that it was maintaining stoic silence over the issue.

Quoting a survey conducted under the watch of the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ruby said that figures culled by the survey team were alarming, stating that 1.2 lakh youth below the age bracket of 10-17 years were into consuming liquor, which, when compared to national figure, was threefold higher in Punjab. Expressing her grave concern, she accused the government of sleeping over the matter while the youth was head over heels into consuming liquor.

Speaking on the occasion, Hayer said that the government was not initiating any action against the liquor mafia which, he alleged, was running the racket under the protective patronage of the government. He added that the mafia was in a commanding position as a major chunk of the trade was being managed by the big fish in polity.

The AAP MLAs cautioned that the Captain Amarinder Singh government should take the AIIMS’s study with all seriousness it merited and take an urgent call on the rising menace eating out the vitals of the state, thus salvaging the youth trapped into liquor consumption, he further said.