Bihar says no to fresh liquor licenses

Patna, Jun 10 (PTI) In an apparent bid to dissuade people from drinking, the Bihar government has decided against issuing fresh liquor licences to vendors.Excise and Prihibition Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav said today that no more liquor licences will be issued in the state.Brushing aside allegation from various quarters that the NDA government encouraged consumption of liquor in the state for revenue generation by issuing large number of licences, Yadav said that compared to other states, there was less consumption of liqour in Bihar and the number of licenced outlets per lakh population was less that other states.The Excise and Prohibition Minister, however, justified past practice to issue large number of liquor licences which, he argued, was done to bring under control sale of illicit liqour.The Excise and Prohibition Secretary Amir Subhani said that the state government will observe ‘prohibition’ day on November 26 and spread awareness among the people about various negative consquences of boozing.