Poll spirit: Ludhiana wants Car-o-bar stopped

LUDHIANA: With public drinking becoming a nuisance in Ludhiana, locals now want political parties to check the practice that many times leads to ruckus and quarrels.
The most common areas where groups of men can be found drinking publically include Ludhiana's South City, Gill Chowk flyover and Sarabha Nagar. Members of the South City Residents' Welfare Society have taken up the issue, saying it was creating nuisance for women and children.Leading the campaign, industrialist Mridula Jain said some visitors to restaurants in the area even urinated on roads, embarrassing women. She said when she started raising voice against it, some people tried to hush her by dumping garbage outside her home.
She said they also involved Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), police, local MLA and even restaurant owners, following which the situation improved for some time, but the menace was back. Area MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik of the SAD said he had asked police to keep a check and would remind them again. MLA (West) Bharat Bhushan Ashu of the Congress said there was need to spread awareness about the problem.
MLA Simarjit Singh Bains from Lok Insaaf Party and AAP said, “It is the moral responsibility of residents that they should not drink in open or at public places. The administration and the government should check the practice.“ DCP Dhruman Nimbale said efforts were being made.“In the past few months, we have registered about 50 FIRs under sections 188 and 283 of the IPC to check drinking at public places and obstruction of traffic by wrong parking.“