Nitish Kumar's U-turn: Only country-made liquor to be banned from April 1?

New Delhi, Dec 4: Day after Nitish Kumar had announced complete ban on liquor from April 1, next year in the State, Bihar Government reportedly has taken U-turn.

As per news reports, now it has been announced that English liquor will be very much available in the shops and ban may be limited only to country-made liquor.

When inquiry was made to State revenue department, officials said that English liquor will be made further expensive so that people from all section of the society can't afford it. Officials justified the move to ban only 'Desi liquor' saying that state is facing huge revenue deficit.

However, when Bihar Excise and Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan was asked about this , he rejected the reports and said that all kinds of alcohol will be banned.

"The government feels that alcohol is death, will a government sell death?" he said, adding: "The government is there to do good work, not to sell alcohol", he was quoted by the ANI.

Earlier, living up to his election promises, Nitish Kumar had announced that Bihar will go dry from April 1, 2016.

Kumar said the poorest of the poor had been consuming liquor, badly hitting their families and their children's education.

He further said, that increasing liquor consumption was also a major cause for domestic violence, particularly against women, and had contributed to a rise in crimes.

"Women are suffering more than anyone else due to increasing liquor consumption," Kumar said.

In July, Nitish Kumar had declared that prohibition would be imposed if he retained power in the assembly elections.

OneIndia news