Bhopal : State government attempts at de-addiction have come a cropper in the state. The consumption of country liquor in the state in the past 12 years has doubled while the consumption of foreign liquor has risen three-folds.
Ever since coming to power, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has not allowed opening of new liquor shops.
During Narmada Yatra, Chouhan got all liquor shops within a radius of 5 kilometres of Narmada closed .
Despite all this, the consumption of liquor in the state this year, as compared to last year is quite high. Contd. on P10
The consumption of country-made liquor in 2005-06 was 511 lakh litre across the state while it has now become 1,100 lakh litre. Similarly, the consumption of foreign liquor has risen from 167 lakh litre to around 450 lakh litre. The consumption of beer, which was 313 lakh litre has now reached 905 lakh litre. The consumption and number of people consuming liquor, except in the year 2016-17, is rising every year.
The government had launched a campaign during Narmada Yatra for people to resolve to quit drinking. Chouhan too used to administer oath to quit drinking during every programme of Narmada Yatra. Despite this, the sale of liquor is increasing.
Pradeep Pandey, who is vice-president of Jan Abhiyaan Parishad which was nodal agency of Narmada Yatra, maintains that one cannot do anything if people, who during Narmada Yatra used to take oath to quit drinking, start drinking. Pandey said due to impact of the yatra, 10 to 15 per cent people living on the banks of Narmada, have quit drinking. Parishad is also getting the impact assessed.
Chouhan has refused to ban liquor
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had declined to ban sale of liquor in the state. Chouhan on various platforms has said public awareness campaign, rather than ban on liquor, should be launched to keep people away from liquor so that the sale of liquor could stop in a phased manner.
‘Hike price to keep people away’
Social justice minister Gopal Bhargava believes that best way to keep people away from liquor is to increase its price. High cost will keep the poor away, he said and claimed that excise department was asked to spend 2% of income for de-addiction. However, social justice department never received the fund.
De-addiction Budget Rs 10 cr; Spent Rs 3 cr
The department of social justice was allotted Rs 10 crore for public awareness and de-addiction in last fiscal. It spent only Rs 3 crore.