Maha Flip by Government may lift Prohibition in Chandrapur District

In January, 2015 this mineral rich Chandrapur district in Vidarbha region in Maharashtra was declared a 'dry district' by imposing ban on the sale, purchase, production and consumption of liquor. Other two districts Gadchiroli and Wardha had already been declared Prohibition Districts in 2015 when Chandrapur was banned from alcohol. These 3 districts are part of the 6 districts in Vidarbha which has Nagpur as its most important city. There are a total of 36 districts in Maharashtra which is divided into 6 regions including Konkan region which includes Mumbai.

In the Federal Republic of India, every State can decide on its own alcohol policy and whether they want to generate tax revenues from alcohol or not. This is perhaps one exception where a District has gone against the State Policy and thanks to the verdict given by Grahm Panchayats which voted in favour of the proposal under pressure from women. Wardha was due to the Mahatama Gandhi’s Ashram in Sevanagar in the district.

It’s pertinent to note that all these changes in policies are political in nature and blatant misuse of Article 47 that has entrusted the States to make efforts to introduce prohibition. However, the heavy taxes which are increased regularly at will, are the motivators for politicians to repeal prohibition (which over time has proved to be a failure in every state where the bootleggers rule the roost).

Excise Department has now put up its proposal where it suggested to lift the liquor ban from Chandrapur. It has also proposed to stretch wine shops closing time by one hour till 11.30pm in the state. According to senior excise officials, state was earning about Rs. 250 Crores from Chandrapur district from excise duty till 2014-15, which it has been losing out for the last five years. They asserted that the ban failed to serve its purpose as illicit smuggling cases jumped to a new high. They told Economic Times that Pawar and other ministers responded positively to the proposal and planning to discuss it during next cabinet meeting.

After large-scale demands from women in Chandrapur, the previous BJP-led government led by ex-chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had imposed the prohibition in 2015. The large scale resentment due to the ban had led to shocking loss of former union minister and six times MP Hansraj Ahir from liquor baron Suresh alias Balu Dhanorkar who is demanding lifting of ban since his victory.

As expected, the government’s move has received mixed reactions from the public representatives and other leaders in the district.

Defending BJP government’s move of prohibition in Chandrapur, former excise minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said decision was taken after 90% Gram Panchayats passed a resolution in this regard, which was well supported by majority of women. “They can’t lift the ban by simply citing revenue losses. Instead they should strengthen the mechanism to prevent sale of illicit liquor by combining the police and excise force to launch the operations. I think the womenfolk there would strongly oppose any such move,” he said.

Another bit of interesting news has recently come from UP where the government proposes to increase the time of liquor to be served for one hour more in the morning. In the garb of helping the consumers and the hotels, it plans to increase its revenues by charging additional duty for the extra hour of licensing.

The story of Article 47 and its use and misuse as a yo-yo continues and will continue-since it is an individual State subject by Constitution.

For an earlier related Article, please click https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Subhash Arora

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