“There is no reason to change what is happening on the beaches, except for a ban on consumption of alcohol in public places, including beaches, as it breeds lawlessness,” Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the media Thursday, in the wake of the Sudin Dhavalikar ‘bikini moral policing bomb’.
Herald had in its June 12 editorial called for regulation of the licentious rowdy roadside drinking culture that has evolved in the State and aggravated by tourism. Herald again calls for respect for the sacredness of public space and for citizens who use it. The chief minister’s assurances that he is serious in cracking down on this lawlessness and his directions to the Excise Department to form squads and depute them along the beach belt, is welcome. It remains to be seen how fast these restrictions will be in place. Right from the counter sale point, till its consumption, some reasonable regulations are necessary.
In the Goa of yesteryears, there was general bonhomie, self regulation, and respect for fellow beings while consuming alcohol. However, today with substantial socio-economic and ethnic changes, and a pint of liquor being cheaper than bottled water, roadside and beachside drinking is on the rise.
Herald had also pointed out, that with a lack in restrictions, it was ironic that police night patrols are hapless to crack down on drinking at public places such as gardens, roadsides and along the coast. As the law and order situation in Goa gets volatile with widespread thefts, crimes and in particular crimes against women, some of which may be alcohol related, social regulations will have to be in place, with certain exceptions for public drinking at picnics and the like.
In Tamil Nadu, strict regulations are in place for retail sale of liquor given the nature of society. Each bottle has a paper seal with the excise inspector’s stamp, over and above the bottle seal. Moreover, any person found with a broken seal in a public place faces the prospect of immediate fine or arrest. There are no roadside bars and one can drink only at home or in a starred hotel.
Social customs and laws on outdoor drinking of alcohol or in a moving vehicle, vary considerably around the world. In the United States, as in parts of India, public drinking is almost outlawed and universally condemned. In Australia, drinking even outside a bar is illegal and if found with an open alcohol container one is fined. There are also demarcated ‘no alcohol zones’. Except for Quebec, in the rest of Canada having open alcohol containers in public is violation of state or municipal laws. Finland prohibits drinking in public and in public transport. Public drinking is illegal in Norway and Poland and subject to fines, as also in Russia.
Even in the most liberal of countries there are fierce debates on public drinking since it leads to over-consumption of alcohol with mob mentality (normally one would not drink as much, unless egged on by the group); binge drinking, rowdiness and violence. Instead it is proposed that drinking should be at bars, pubs or clubs where the bartender and security or bouncers would regulate drinking and rowdiness. Even in European countries violence in stadia especially during football matches is not uncommon due to over-consumption of alcohol.
Goa has to evolve its own restrictions on public drinking including punishment for those who pollute and leave and or break bottles in public places. In this regard, hats off to the Benaulim panchayat which nabbed the culprit who engaged in waste dumping and forced him to clean the waste and garbage from the entire stretch of road, as punishment. So it should be with rowdy drinkers and polluters of public places.
