Rejecting a State wide demand for a blanket ban on the consumption and manufacture of liquor in Odisha, the State Government on Wednesday termed total prohibition of liquor as ‘unrealistic.’
“It is not a realistic step to declare the entire State as a total prohibition area,” Excise Minister Damodar Rout said while replying to a written question in the Assembly on Wednesday.
The Minister’s replay in the House came a day after the women wing of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) supported by several social organisations staged a rally demanding a ban on the consumption and manufacture of alcohol in the State.
The social organisations and political parties in Odisha have intensified their demand of total prohibition in the State after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar banning the alcohol in his State from April 1, 2016.
“It is impossible to end the affinity of consumers with alcohol even if the State declares a total prohibition,” Rout told, adding that a ban on the liquor on the other hand will create opportunities for illegal and illicit trade of liquor.
The Minister argued that one cannot avoid possibility of hooch tragedies due to consumption of illegal and illicit liquor by alcohol consumers.
Therefore, the Minister said, “Instead of total prohibition, it will be proper to regulate distribution and sale of pure liquor among the consumers.” Rout also made it clear that the State Government has no intention to earn revenue from sale of liquor in Odisha. The Government till November end this fiscal has collected Rs1,139.83 crore as excise revenue, he informed.
Meanwhile, official sources said that there was steady rise in the sale of liquor in the State. While the State Government earned Rs306.61 crore as excise revenue in 2004-05, the amount increased to Rs2,038.79 crore in 2014-15.