Lashing out at Nitish Kumar, former Union Minister RCP Singh on Monday said that the Chief Minister should leave his obstinacy and lift liquor ban in Bihar.
"Due to the liquor ban, the Bihar government is losing a big chunk of revenue and it is directly affecting the common people. The developments of public welfare works are not taking place in Bihar. The roads of rural areas are having pathetic shapes. Hence, Nitish Kumar should leave his obstinacy on liquor ban. He should lift the ban to improve excise tax collection in state exchequer," Singh said.
"The current Nitish Kumar government is distributing joining letters every day. I want to point out how this government would give the salary to them. The Bihar government does not have enough funds to deal with it. The Nitish Kumar government has stopped revenue generation through banning liquor in the state," he said.
According to an official, the state government may lose a big chunk of revenue through liquor ban but at the same time the prices of the products like fuel, electricity and other are having higher prices compared to other states.
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One liter petrol price is around Rs 107.24 in Patna while it is Rs 96.36 in Lucknow and Rs 96.72 in Delhi. That means the State GST is higher here in Bihar. Similarly, electricity tariffs are also high compared to other states.
Reacting to it, former MLA of JD-U Manjit Singh said: "Those who are demanding to lift liquor ban are actually liquor consumers. The decision of liquor ban has been taken for the noble cause. Our chief minister has taken the decision in the interest of large sections of society and it will continue till Nitish Kumar is the chief minister of state."
"The law related to it is taking its own course. Those who are caught in a drunken state are in jail. The operators are in jail, vehicles are being seized. Still, those who are demanding to lift the liquor ban law, are definitely a regular drinkers of it," Manjit Singh said.
