The Milita Odisha Nisha Nibaran Abhiyan (MONNA) in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said the demand for implementation of total prohibition in the State needs to be addressed with positive attitude.
MONNA convener Padma Charan Nayak has mentioned in the letter that the Orissa prohibition Act 1956 had got the President’s assent and two of its sections were enforced leaving other sections overlooked.
Nayak said the sale of liquor through Govt-administered shops and illegal outlets has multiplied more than a thousand times during the intervening 57 years. As a result of this, the entire society has been ruined, and even the adolescents have become the victims of liquor, he added. “We have brought this fact to your notice and requested you to enforce the Act with necessary amendments. People in general want that the State Govt should clamp total prohibition,” Nayak said in the letter.
By doing that the Kerala Govt would lose more than Rs8,000 crore annually, which is equal to one-third of its annual planned expenditure, he pointed out. So, he said Odisha should not be left behind in this respect.Since the Govt would get Rs1,630 crore of excess revenue annually from mining royalty from this year from the Centre, the loss of excise revenue of about Rs2,000 crore would be well compensated, he added.