Nitish accepts invitation for anti-liquor function in J'khand

Patna, April 27: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today accepted an invitation for a programme on liquor prohibition being organised by a women's group in neighbouring Jharkhand.

Members of 'Jharkhand Nari Sangharsh Morcha' met Kumar at his '7 Circular Road' residence here to extend invitation for their programme against liquor ban at Town hall in Dhanbad on May 10, an official statement said here.

The CM assured the women of his participation in the function in support of prohibition, the statement added. The women members included Morcha President Chanchala Devi, Secretary Sathi Biswas, Vice Presidents Shabana Parveen and Priyanka Devi.

The organisation is demanding for imposition of total liquor ban in Jharkhand as done in Bihar. Kumar, who announced a total ban on liquor in Bihar on April 5 after a decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet, has time and again said that he would participate in programmes on prohibition in other states also.

Earlier, on media reports of a boost in liquor business in neighbouring states of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh after Bihar was declared a dry state, Kumar had said that these states should not rejoice on revenue boost as similar demands for ban on alcohol would arise from the citizens of their states too.

The CM had also lamented on the lack of concrete cooperation from the neighbouring states despite writing to their CMs to make the total ban in Bihar a success .

"If a complete ban on alcohol can be imposed in Bihar why cannot the same be done in Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh or Odisha?" Kumar said yesterday at a programme in Bhagalpur while pitching for a total ban on alcohol in the country.

PTI