Punjab health minister's bizarre statement, says 'booze not intoxicant'

Chandigarh, Dec 22: Bizarre it may sound but Punjab Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani does not consider 'sharab' (booze) an intoxicant.

"I don't think 'sharab' (booze) is an intoxicant. You cannot call alcohol an intoxicant. It is (consumed) there in the army, parties.

"The government gives licences for manufacturing liquor, we auction liquor vends. As long as it is done, sharab cannot be called 'nasha' (intoxicant)," Jyani told journalists during an interaction after inaugurating a de-addiction centre in his constituency Badal on Sunday.

Incidentally, Punjab has been facing the problem of drug addiction, which once prompted Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to claim 7 out of every 10 youth in the state were addicts.

PTI