The UP government said that there was no proposal for enforcing total prohibition in the state.
Replying to a query during Question Hour in the Assembly, Excise minister Jai Pratap Singh said in the Assembly on Wednesday that the state retained the right to allow the sale and manufacturing of alcoholic drinks under the Constitution and there was no such proposal under consideration of the state government.
Singh said that liquor was a major source of revenue for the state government and it was not possible ban alcohol in the state. He said that the revenue generated from the sale of liquor is utilized for several welfare purposes.
“Ban on liquor would only promote hooch and illegal supply of booze in the state which could be fatal for the people and hence a ban on alcohol could be counterproductive for the state,’’ said the minister.
However, Congress leader Ajay Kumar lalu argued that when states like Bihar, Gujarat and others could ban alcohol, then why could it not been done in UP. To buttress his point, lalu said that hundreds of people die every year due to consumption of alcohol.
During the discussion, the Treasury bench and the Congress leader had a heated discussion when BJP members questioned why the Congress did not ban alcohol during their 50 years of rule in the country.
leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary said that the then Janta Party government in 1977 was split on the issue of prohibition. He said that Bhartiya Jan Sangh was also part of the Janata Party regime and it had opposed imposition of prohibition in the entire country.
Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Khanna however contradicted the claims of Chaudhary saying that the leader of Opposition was either ignorant or deliberately misrepresenting facts which occurred four decades ago.
To another question, Irrigation minister Dharampal Singh said that the government had delisted 5,246 km of canal in the state after which water was reaching to its tail end. He said that the government has fixed a target so that water reached tail end in 4,352 canals till June 30, but the department created a record by doing it in 5699 canals. He said that there wre over 75,000 km of canals in the state.
The Assembly witnessed angry exchanges between Treasury and Opposition benches with members challenging each other over the revival of closed sugar mills in the state. The issue was raised during Question Hour when iot was asked when did the government plan to re-start closed sugar mills.
Minister of state for sugarcane Suresh Rana said that the previous BSP government should be held responsible for illegal selling off of sugar mills in which the CAG had alleged that Rs 1,179 crores have been siphoned off. The BSP protested against the remarks of the minister.
Senior BSP member and former speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar said that they did not need certificate of BJP leaders and appealed to the Speaker to expunge the controversial remarks made by the minister against the BSP.
However, labour minister and former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya intervened and said that the Speaker should hear the BSP members otherwise they may also tender their resignations from the membership of the Assembly like their party chief Mayawati did in Rajya Sabha a day before.
leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary alleged that the ruling party was only targeting Opposition and had failed in all fronts. He claimed that it was the Opposition which was running the House as the ruling BJP and its ministers were only interested in disrupting proceedings.