PATNA: Deeply hurt by the death of around 60 persons in a series of hooch tragedies in the last fortnight, CM Nitish Kumar on Tuesday asked the senior officers to take the toughest and strictest actions against the government officers and employees found involved in committing wrongdoings in the matter of liquor ban.
Chairing a marathon meeting for seven hours to review the lapses in the enforcement of liquor ban in the state, Nitish issued several instructions to plug the loopholes in the system and told the officials that he would not tolerate any kind of negligence in enforcing prohibition in the state. “Whosoever has been given the responsibility to enforce the liquor ban must work with full alertness and complete dedication to neither allow liquor smuggling nor its consumption,” Nitish said.
If a police team from the state headquarters recovers illicit liquor from a location, the SHO of the police station concerned would be suspended and responsibility of senior officers should also be fixed, Nitish ordered.
The CM said the minister and secretary in-charge of a district would visit their allotted areas at least once in a month and review the enforcement of liquor along with the development works. He also asked the officials to identify the routes of liquor smuggling and maintain special vigil along the interstate borders.
Nitish also ordered for launching a fresh drive to make people aware about the bad effects of liquor consumption. He asked the officials to propagate the views of Mahatma Gandhi about prohibition.
Both the Deputy CMs, 24 cabinet ministers and all top bureaucrats attended the meeting. While briefing the media about the meeting, additional chief secretary (home) Chaitanya Prasad said the CM has ordered for maintaining a special vigil on the Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal borders to check the entry of smuggled liquor from other states. “The CM has also asked for sealing the borders to check entry of illicit liquors,” Prasad said.
DGP SK Singhal said the CM emphasised on strengthening the intelligence network. He said if an SHO is found involved in the liquor manufacturing or smuggling, he would not be posted as the SHO for the next 10 years. He said so far 206 police officers have been dismissed from the service for their involvement in liquor related issues.
