Raman Singh announces liquor prohibition in Chhattisgarh

Raman Singh, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, on 11 April 2017 announced that his government will impose an alcohol ban in Chhattisgarh in coming days. The ban or prohibition will be regulated in a phased manner.

The announcement of liquor ban was made after his meet with Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, in Patna. It was announced from Munger, Bihar. Singh was on a two-day personal visit to Bihar, he visited the state to meet Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati at Munger Yogashram.

Similar liquor ban was imposed in Bihar in April 2016.

Raman Singh said in the first phase, the prohibition will be imposed in villages of Chhattisgarh. The prohibition will be imposed in villages with a population of 3000 and more.

With this announcement, Chhattisgarh becomes the second state in the country to impose alcohol prohibition in the state in April 2017. Earlier in the week, a similar announcement was made by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
Chauhan on 9 April 2017 announced that all liquor shops would be closed across the state in a phased manner.

The announcement was made at a programme at village Neemkhera (Heerapur) of Narsinghpur district of the state. The programme was a part of campaign Namami Devi Narmade - Narmada Seva Yatra and was organised to raise awareness about river conservation. At present, the ban will be implemented within 5 sq km of the Narmada Parikrama Yatra or banks of Narmada.

The liquor ban in two states can also be linked to two different events that occurred in recent past.

• 1st event: Supreme Court’s order to ban the sale of liquor on national and state highways. This ban would force the liquor sellers to shift their shop into villages and residential areas, which should be stopped.

• 2nd event: Anti-liquor protest marches by women groups in several states of India including Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

At present, Gujarat and Bihar are only the two states that have a complete ban on alcohol.  Other states that tried to impose such liquor ban but failed includes

• Tamil Nadu – It tried to experiment such a liquor ban more than once but failed to implement it.

• Andhra Pradesh – It tried to do so in the 1990s but the efforts went into vain.

• Mizoram – It was withdrawn in 2014 after 17 years of enforcement.

Comment: This step of liquor prohibition by the two states will help in saving lives of people and protect families.