Liquor Ban Policy To Be Revisited In Bihar?

Bihar is one of the very few states having a policy of prohibition, and the ex- CM, Nitish Kumar, has pursued this policy keeping in view the misery of women in all aspects of life, till he was at the helm of affairs, the source says. Though the policy resulted in a substantial loss of revenue, which affected the developmental work, but Ex CM kept the humanitarian point of view above all and continued the policy, the source says. It's learnt from reliable sources that the newly appointed CM from the BJP, Samrat Chaudhary likely to lift the ban on the sale of alcohol in the state in the first meeting of the cabinet in May, the source says. The argument in favour is that the government is suffering a heavy revenue loss and that the prohibition is not an effective strategy, the source says.

The central government perhaps asked the state government to find new sources to meet the state's expenditure and to initiate developmental work at a high pace. It is also said that police and excise officials are not true to their responsibilities, which results in the illegal supply of liquor from other parts of the state; thus, the earnings of these forces have increased manifold, the source says. According to the source, after the implementation of this policy, 70% of land exchanges were conducted by the police authorities.