Earlier this year, the Ladakh administration had announced a more liberal liquor policy, allowing the retail sale of hard liquor and expanding liquor outlets in the region from 2 to 20. (File image)A day after the Ladakh administration clarified its position on the sale of alcohol in the Union Territory, stating that the liquor policy announced earlier this year had been revoked, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk said on Thursday that different women’s organisations, who had been staging protests in the region over the issue, had called off their stir.Wangchuk had been raising the issue over the past week, citing protests by several women organisations, including the Ladakh Buddhist Association Women Wing, Anjuman-e-Imamia Women Wing, Anjuman Moin-ul-Islam Women Wing and the Christian Community Women Wing.On Thursday, Wangchuk announced that the protests had been called off since the UT administration “agreed to all demands and requested for a week to finalise the agreement.” He said, “Let’s hope that their (the protesting women’s) trust and faith in the system will be respected.”Earlier this year, the Ladakh administration had announced a more liberal liquor policy, allowing the retail sale of hard liquor and expanding liquor outlets in the region from 2 to 20.Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had approved the policy, stating that the reforms are intended to reduce dependence on narcotic substances, strengthen regulation, and support tourism-led economic activity.The L-G had argued that the policy primarily aims at curbing the growing dependence on narcotics and drugs and giving people “a wider choice of low alcoholic content liquor” in the Ladakh region.On Wednesday, the administration had hit out at Wangchuk, terming his claims that liquor shops were coming up “in every nook and corner” of Ladakh as “baseless and imaginary.”On October 22, Wangchuk claimed that protests had taken place in the Zanskar area over the sale of liquor. He has also repeated these claims on social media, sharing purported videos of women protests.Story continues below this adHowever, the administration clarified that the new Excise Policy 2026–27, notified in June, had been rolled back on August 6 “upon receiving feedback and suggestions from the people/social organisations”.The proposal to open wine shops under the new policy was also withdrawn by the L-G, and the auction notice issued pursuant to it was cancelled, it said.Following the rollback, the old excise policy for 2025-26, issued on April 4, 2025, was restored and remains in force, the administration said.Naveed Iqbal is a Senior Assistant Editor at The Indian Express, and reports from Jammu and Kashmir.... Read More Tags:Ladakhliquor