Nasha Mukta Bharat Jagruti Andolana Samiti, a consortium of various progressive organisations, will launch an awareness campaign in Kalaburagi on Monday urging the Central government to ban liquor and to introduce stringent laws to ensure de-addiction.
Activists R.K. Hudgi, Ravindra Shahabadi and Deepak Gala, addressing presspersons here on Saturday, said that progressive thinkers, members of farmers organisations, Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, environmentalists and legislators will gather at Mahatma Gandhi statue near Town Hall on Monday to kick start the campaign and spread awareness among people about the disadvantages of alcohol consumption.
Mr. Hudgi said that the samiti will chalk out programmes to educate people about the ill-effects of alcohol consumption. It is important to restrict access to alcohol for the younger generation, as dependence on any intoxicant not only affects an individual’s health but also disrupts the whole family and even society.
The samiti will plan for discouraging people from taking to alcoholism, so that the alcohol menace in the State is checked. A few States have already taken one such initiative and Karnataka should follow suit, he added.
Activist Deepak Gala said that though the country records 2.6 lakh deaths due to consumption of alcohol every year as per a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, production and sale of alcohol have increased every year in India.
Besides progressive organisations, religious leaders, including Guru Mahanta Swami of Chittaragi Mutt, Ilkal, Karuneshwar Swami, Veerabhadra Shivacharya, Siddarama Shivacharya of Chinamgeri, Revansiddha Shivacharya of Saradagi, and political leaders, including Aland MLA B.R. Patil, the former Minister S.K. Kanta and the former MLA Vishwanath Patil Hebbal, will participate in the campaign.
