Bhopal: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur on Friday said a time-bound ban on liquor must be implemented in the state. On Monday, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced that all liquor shops in Madhya Pradesh would be closed in a phased manner.
Gaur, who often finds himself at loggerheads with the BJP government in the state, asked Chouhan to announce the time limit by which the ban will be implemented. “Liquor ban should come into force by 2018,” Gaur said.
The veteran BJP leader said the production at distilleries should be halved as there is all round opposition against liquor vends.
Several protests against liquor shops have been reported from across the state in the past few weeks. The protests came after liquor vends were moved close to residential areas after the Supreme Court order banning the sale of booze within 500m of national and state highways.
On April 5, protesters burnt two vehicles and damaged four others in a clash over shifting a liquor shop close to a residential area.
Abhsihek Bhargav, son of Panchayat and Rural Development minister Gopal Bhargav, had raised questions over the government's alleged silence on the issue and sought prohibition of liquor in the state.
Cabinet minister Gaushankar Bisen too had spoken against any new liquor vend in his home district Balaghat.
On Thursday, some liquor traders in Indore had symbolically handed back keys of liquor vends to the district administration.
The Opposition, led by the Congress, is already asking the state government to ban liquor.
However, with Madhya Pradesh staring at borrowings close to Rs 1.62 lakh crore and Rs 7500 crore being generated through liquor sales in the fiscal 2016-17 a ban seems an uphill task, said a BJP leader wishing anonymity.
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