RAIPUR: One of the proposed committee -- a political, announced by Chhattisgarh Congress government on evaluation before imposing liquor ban seems to have stuck in a quagmire of confusion with the opposition leaders citing they didn't receive the official communication from the ruling party on constituting the panel.
Ban on liquor sale was one of the key promises by the Congress party ahead of the Assembly elections 2018, the move apparently won the appreciation from the women who constitute nearly fifty per cent of the voters in Chhattisgarh.
The Bhupesh Baghel government had in February declared to constitute three committees comprising experts, social workers and legislators to study the prospect of prohibition in the state.
While two committees will be headed by the secretary of Chhattisgarh's Commercial Taxes (Excise) department, the third will be chaired by a senior Congress MLA Satyanarayan Sharma. Sharma claimed the names of the Congress MLAs have been finalised but so far the BJP and the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh-J (JCC-J) have not sent any name of their leaders.
Based on the observations of the committees the government will initiate action. However, both the BJP and the JCC-J stated they haven’t received any communication from the state government so far. “We have not received any letter seeking the names of our party MLAs. After receiving it the party will think over it”, said the leader of opposition Dharamlal Kaushik.
The panel under Congress MLA Sharma will have two legislators from BJP, one each from BSP and JCC-J and eight from the Congress. “There hasn’t been any progress in the formation of the political committee so far”, asserted Amit Jogi, president of the JCC-J. After rejecting the report of the BJP government that formed 11-member committee to study liquor ban, the new Congress regime led by the chief minister Bhupesh Baghel announced to constitute separate panels to look into various aspects that should pave way for alcohol prohibition.