Rat-tled Nitish Kumar orders bulldozers on seized booze

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said reports of rats guzzling down seized liquor was an attempt to malign the reputation of state and warned officials that he will not tolerate any slackness in the implementation of total prohibition, till he is at the helm of affairs.

"We have already ordered for destroying all seized liquor publicly, except for a small sample amount for legal processes. Till date, nine lakh litres of seized liquor has been destroyed and we are not going to spare anyone on this issue," Kumar said at an event here on Monday.

The Bihar government was left red-faced when some of its cops claimed that rats had consumed several lakh litres of alcohol stored in the godowns. The district administrations concerned soon sprung into action and hurriedly rolled bulldozers on seized bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and countrymade liquor, besides destroying raw materials and utensils used in liquor manufacturing.

On Monday, the Patna district administration destroyed 30,000 bottles of IMFL worth over Rs 1.25 crore, which were seized in the state capital after implementation of total prohibition in Bihar on April 2016.

Earlier, the Bihar CM, in his philosophical manner, said, "Those who are secretly consuming liquor are the ones who are claiming that liquor ban has failed in Bihar or that home delivery is available. But I will not allow any laxity. I have left the rest to God… everything is under His control."

After a recent meeting of district magistrates (DMs) and superintendent of police (SP) of all districts of Bihar, where Kumar issued fresh instructions to not spare anyone, action has also been initiated against a number of cops in the state. While all cops of a police station were shunted to police lines, several others have been suspended if rampant liquor sale was reported from their area.

Kumar also said, "While Bihar has been a centre of political revolutions, there has been a dearth of social revolutions. Now after liquor ban, we will launch a strong campaign against child marriage and dowry from October 2."