Alcohol ban to be enforced in Mizoram from March 31

Aizawl, March 21, 2019:

Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga has kept his poll promise of liquor prohibition in the state as Mizoram is on its way to becoming a dry state as the Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Bill 2019 has been passed in the state on Wednesday.

As per the provisions of the Bill, alcohol sale and consumption will be banned in the state from March 31 onwards. Punishment for violators of the rule? A minimum fine of Rs. 1 lakh and a possible sentence of up to five years in prison.

The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) had made alcohol ban one of its campaign promises in the lead up to the 2018 Assembly elections in the state which it won.

The Bill, which was introduced by Excise and Narcotics Minister K Beichhua, was passed unanimously in the House.

Although the ban of alcohol in the state will cost the exchequer around Rs. 70 crores in revenue, Chief Minister Zoramthanga is not ruffled. “We cannot think of the economy in such a scenario”, he says. The Chief Minister has described alcohol as a “killing machine and widow making machine.”

It may be mentioned that the previous Congress government had lifted an 18-year-old ban on alcohol by replacing the Mizoram Liquor (Total Prohibition) Act, 1995 with the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Act, 2014.