PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said a recent survey conducted by the Patna-based Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) revealed that around 1.82 crore people have discarded consuming alcohol in the state since the enforcement of total prohibition in April 2016.
While interacting with a seven-member delegation of legislators from Chhattisgarh at ‘Sankalp’ hall of the CM residence, Nitish further said that the survey also disclosed that 99% women and 93% men in Bihar were in favour of the total prohibition promulgated by his government.
He also told the visiting Chhattisgarh MLAs that earlier some people used to claim that tourists’ footfall would dwindle in Bihar after the enforcement of total probation.
“But the number of tourists has increased in the state after the total prohibition,” he said.
The delegation of Chhattisgarh MLAs arrived here on a three-day tour on Thursday to study the efforts made by the Bihar government for successful implementation of total prohibition across the state.
The delegation called on the Bihar CM on Friday as part of their tour programme.
While recounting the happenings which led to enforcement of total prohibition in Bihar, Nitish told the visiting MLAs that on July 9, 2015 when he was addressing a programme of women in the state capital here, some rural women demanded that alcohol is a bad thing and it should be banned.
“I immediately assured the women that I would put a ban on liquor if I returned to power after the coming assembly polls. After winning the assembly polls, we formed a new government in November 2015 and we implemented total prohibition with effect from April 5, 2016,” Nitish told the Chhattisgarh lawmakers.
The Bihar CM also said that the state government had been receiving a revenue of Rs 5,000 crore per annum from the trade of alcohol, but people of the state had been spending around Rs 10,000 crore per annum on consumption of liquor.
“Now, after the enforcement of the ban on consumption of liquor, people are spending that money on other necessary requirements. Thus, the sale of vegetables, fruits, milk etc has increased manifold. The loving standard of people has improved,” Nitish said.
The CM also said that his government had been continuously running different kinds of campaigns to make people aware about the benefits of prohibition.
Earlier, the CM welcomed the Chhattisgarh legislators by offering ‘anga-vastram’ to each member of the delegation.
The delegation head and MLA Satyanarayan Sharma too offered flower bouquet, shawl and a memento to the Bihar CM.
Other Chhattisgarh MLAs who interacted with the Bihar CM were Dwarikadhish Yadav, Rashmi Singh, Shishupal Sori, Kunwar Singh Nishad, Daleshwar Sahu and Purushottam Kanwar.
Bihar’s prohibition, excise and registration minister Sunil Kumar, chief secretary Amir Subhani, additional chief secretary (prohibition) K K Pathak, Chhattisgarh’s excise secretary Niranjan Das, Bihar’s excise commissioner B Kartikeya Dhanji, and additional director general (prohibition) Amrit Raj, chief executive officer (Jeevika) Rahul Kumar and many other senior officers were present on the occasion.
