Commercial Tax Minister Amar Agrawal on Thursday kept the State Government stand on prohibition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly while stating that the Government had banned sale of liquor within 500 meters of national and state highways and will ensure full implementation of the Apex court order from April 1, 2017.
He said that the State government on January 24, 2017, had decided to set up the ‘Chhattisgarh State Marketing Corporation’ which would start retail sale of liquor from April 1, 2017.
Agrawal said that between 1981 and 1990, the management of liquor shops in the scheduled areas in undivided Madhya Pradesh was with the State Government. Similarly, between 1993 and 2002 also,the management of liquor shops in the scheduled areas was done by the State Government.
After the formation of Chhattisgarh State, the Government had managed liquor shops between 2001 to 2002 in five districts mainly-Raipur, Durg, Dhamtari, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund, he informed.
The State government has announced new rules to ensure that apart from the authorized shops, no liquor would be available anywhere else. Work is underway to identify places for the 417 liquor shops being removed from the highways as per the apex court order, Agrawal stated.