Chhattisgarh moving towards liquor prohibition, says Raman Singh

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said that his state has taken steps towards prohibition and as part of that liquor will not be allowed in having a population up to 3,000.

The liquor sale has already been prohibited in villages having up to 2,000 population and now the government would keep villages with population up to 3,000 away from alcohol, Singh told reporters at the helipad in Munger, Bihar. The chief minister further said that his government has already done away with "Kuchiya Pratha" (outsourcing liquor sale to middlemen/contractors) and liquor is sold only from government outlets. He was here to meet Swami Niranjanand Saraswati of the Munger Yoga Peeth and congratulate him for getting a Padam Shri award recently.

Sarawati hails from Rajangaon in Chhattisgarh but left home in early childhood to join Munger Yoga peeth in Bihar which he is currently heading. Before proceeding towards Munger, Singh paid a courtesy visit to his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar at the latter's residence in Patna. Kumar presented a replica of Lord Buddha to Singh.

At Munger, the helicopter in which Singh had to return to Patna had some trouble taking off due to high speed winds and sand dust. But, the administration quickly sprinkled water on the ground after which the helicopter took off.