The liquor ban in the state of Bihar will continue, CM Nitish Kumar asserted on Friday. The CM was addressing a gathering at the Nasha Mukti Diwas programme in Gyan Bhavan.
"The Liquor Prohibition Law was imposed in Bihar in 2016 on women's demand. We had initially imposed a partial ban only in rural areas but as women of urban areas also demanded the same, we imposed a complete liquor ban," he said.
The decision was taken after an all-party meeting, and there is no question of rolling it back, Nitish Kumar stated. Those pointing at the decision must remind themselves of the meeting, he added.
3.5 lakh government and private sector employees took the oath to not consume liquor for the rest of their lives at the event.
Justifying police action in public places, including entering the rooms of brides in marriage halls, he said, "Police will check any place in the state where liquor consumption could be possible."
"When I was a school going student, I had an allergy to drunk men. I had already decided that once I got a chance to prevent people from drinking liquor in any stage of my life, I would do it. Liquor is a bad substance. It can take life and people can also contract serious diseases," the JD(U) leader said.
"How liquor can take lives is visible in Bihar. If anyone drinks wrong things like liquor, they would die. Twenty-seven per cent of the people dying in road accidents are under the influence of liquor. Eighteen per cent people involved in quarrels and 17 per cent people committing suicide across the world were in a drunken state," he said.