Women use a stick to break down the liquor shop near Sai Temple at Tankapani Road in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 3: Hundreds of women of Basuaghai on the city outskirts today ransacked a foreign liquor shop in their locality.

The action came at the end of a seven-day deadline that the women had set for the authorities to relocate the liquor shop. On September 24, local residents, mostly women, had staged a road blockade and asked the authorities to shift the liquor outlet. As the authorities did not pay heed to their demands, hundreds of residents, mostly women, armed with spades stormed the foreign liquor shop. Their enthusiasm was so high that the women did not mind spending five hours to demolish the shop.

The agitators also broke the grill and shop shutter and destroyed foreign liquor worth Rs 50,000.

Sources said the loss could have been much more but the shopkeeper was not keeping sufficient stock apprehending resistance from the residents.

“We had approached the authorities to relocate the shop as it used to attract rowdy elements who created problems for local residents. They passed abusive comments, particularly at women and schoolchildren, and also misbehaved with them. We had even submitted a memorandum addressed to the chief minister, but nothing happened. So, we decided to do demolish the shop,” said Basant Mukhi, one of the agitators.

In the past, the residents had alleged that though the excise department had issued a licence to set up the liquor shop at Ranga Bazar in Balianta block, the owner had opened it in Bhubaneswar block.

“The liquor shop has been set up close to both the Sai temple and a public school, creating problems for local residents,” said an agitator. She also said that despite their protest, the authorities had allowed the shop be set up in the area around 18 months ago.

On September 24, the agitators had blocked the road connecting Bhubaneswar to Balianta through Tankapani Road for nearly two hours demanding relocation of the shop. The residents had called off their agitation after the police promised to pass on the message to the authorities concerned.

However, Bhubaneswar excise superintendent Harish Chandra Nayak said he was unaware of today’s incident.

This is the fourth such incident in which local residents, mainly women, have destroyed liquor shops in the city in the past two years.

On January 3 this year, around 100 women had ransacked a licenced country liquor shop opposite Mancheswar police station. On July 30, a group of women had demolished another foreign liquor shop at Kharavela Nagar. In another incident on December 4 last year, around 200 women had ransacked two country liquor breweries at Mancheswar.