Village bans sale, consumption of liquor, wants to be ‘emulated’

There are about 6,000 residents in the village. “The villagers had formed a committee of 80 people that took the decision to implement the ban, which was announced from mosques,” said Khaled Amin, a villager.

Another villager, Mohammad Nur Amin, said, “We turned the village into a alcohol and drug-free zone last month. Several people who drank regularly have already lost everything and a youth died in a drunken brawl one year ago. Everyone knows that alcohol leads to nowhere.” There are about 2,000 bars, 3,000 alcohol retailers and 104 distributors in the state where the administration had earlier reduced the number of dry days and extended drinking hours in bars and also set up a company for liquor distribution in an attempt to boost revenue. In November last year, the state government also increased taxes on alcohol.

A total of three people have been fined so far in Elahiganj village, locals said. A member of the committee said, “The money that we’ve received through fine is being used to help the poor and needy. We have also got support from the police, who have assured us of their intervention if we face any trouble in imposing the ban.”

Emamul Haque Tuli, a member of Murshidabad-Jiaganj panchayat samiti, said that while Elahiganj was successful in implementing the ban, he “hoped that other villages also emulate us”.

In Murshidabad alone, the excise department reported an 85 per cent increase in revenue between 2010-11 and 2012-13. In 2014, the government banned the distribution of two-litre bottles as tax collections are higher from smaller bottles. Distribution of one-litre bottles in the state was banned from December 1 but dealers were given time to clear their inventory, the state’s excise department said.