RAIPUR: Liquor ban was among the key poll planks of the Congress, ahead of the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections – 2018.
But Bhupesh Baghel government’s recent decision on distribution and sale of liquor in plastic bottles even as three committees are looking into possibilities of total prohibition has alarmed both the environmentalists and health experts.
Environmental agencies question as to how approval was given to sell liquor in plastic satchets without any scientific research on the possible impact of plastic.
Social activist Uchit Sharma, who plans to file a PIL cited the case of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in the High Court, hearing a case, saying “Those states assured that liquor will only be sold or stored in glass bottles and not plastic ones.”
Officials say there is an acute shortage of glass.
“Plastic bottles will be replaced to the extent it can be. We are not the first state to use plastic bottles for liquor,” special secretary (Excise dept) A P Tripathi, said.
“There’s a risk of neuro-muscular disability. Poly-hydrocarbon of the plastic disintegrates and the risks magnify if liquor is stored for long in such containers,” Dr Devendra Naik, a surgical gastroenterologist and liver transplant surgeon, said.