Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting with officials on issues related to the liquor ban in the state and asked them to take stern action against those policemen and excise department staffers found to have violated the prohibition themselves, an official said. The meeting was convened after 47 people died recently due to the consumption of spurious liquor in the state.
The seven-hour meeting was attended by all ministers, senior administrative and police officials of the state. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home, said, "The CM condemned the recent hooch incidents and has given strict instructions to the officials concerned to take action against those who are involved in these cases."
"The CM has also given an order to take stern action against policemen, including Station House Officers (SHOs), if they are found to have been involved in violation of the liquor ban in the state," he said. Strict departmental action will be initiated against those SHOs who have failed to enforce the prohibition in their respective areas, he said, adding that they will not be given posting as a station in-charge for the next ten years. Forty-seven people across the state died after allegedly consuming illicit liquor since Diwali.
The Nitish Kumar government had on April 5, 2016, banned the manufacture, trade, storage, transportation, sale and consumption of liquor in the state. "Instructions have also been given to senior officials of the Prohibition Excise & Registration Department, as well as the police, to conduct frequent meetings and discuss the issues involving prohibition," Prasad said.
An in-depth investigation will be conducted in the recent hooch tragedies, and "those found guilty should be subjected to trial", the additional chief secretary said. The CM also directed the officials concerned to identify the routes through which liquor is being smuggled to Bihar from other states and maintain a close vigil, he said. The state government will soon start a campaign about the ill effects of drinking alcoholic beverages, he added.
SK Singhal, Director General of Police, who was also present in the meeting, told reporters, "A decision has also been taken to identify those police stations in the state where no action was taken or recoveries were made under the prohibition law in the last two-three years." All SHOs have been instructed to strengthen the intelligence gathering mechanism in their respective areas to nab those who indulge in manufacturing or supplying illicit liquor in Bihar from outside, he said. Departmental action has already been taken against 206 policemen, including two inspectors and 30 sub-inspectors, who failed to enforce the prohibition in their respective areas, he added.
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