RAIPUR: Raipur will witness the politics on liquor ban next week with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar having "agreed to lead the prohibition campaign" while the Raman Singh cabinet remains adamant to sell liquor through government-owned outlets from April 1.
Kumar will be visiting Chhattisgarh on the invitation of civil society groups and his party cadres from the State. “Bihar chief minister Shri Nitish Kumar has assured to provide an impetus to the ongoing movement against liquor in Chhattisgarh. He will share his experiences on enforcing prohibition in Bihar and the socio-economic outcome from his booze ban decision”, social activist Mamta Sharma told New Indian Express.
The Bihar CM is slated to address public meetings, couple of nukkad sabhas(corner meetings) and also lead a rally against liquor sale in the capital on March 26. The Bihar government had enforced ban on liquor sale in April 2016.
The Raman Singh government has decided to hold no more auctions for liquor outlet licenses in accordance with the new excise policy for the fiscal year 2017-18.The State government has also decided to sell liquor only through its retail outlets, which will be administered by the government-owned Corporation.
The State cabinet had approved Chhattisgarh Excise (Amendment) Bill 2017 last Monday and it will be tabled in the Assembly later this week. The government aims to create a Corporation, which will be headed by the chief secretary that will facilitate the sale of both foreign and Indian liquor through government outlets.