Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s liquor campaign may suffer a setback as excise officials in Bihar may avoid taking action against those who break the law by consuming liquor.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s liquor campaign may suffer a setback as excise officials in Bihar may avoid taking action against those who break the law by consuming liquor.
The situation occurred after an excise department inspector, Deepak Kumar, was arrested on the charges of conspiring against a local political leader last week.
Mr Kumar raided the residential premises of Nalanda-based JD(U) leader Chandra Deo Sen and recovered a huge cache of liquor. Upset over the action against excise department inspector, principal secretary K.K. Pathak who had drafted the tough prohibition policy last year went on a long leave. Sources say Mr Pathak has not attended office since Wednesday, and has asked state government to “find replacement”. He added, “Punishing officers who do their duties honestly is not right. This shouldn’t have happened”. Though there has been no official statement from the state government on the issue but sources said, “Mr Pathak’s decision to take leave may disrupt the ban policy in Bihar.” They also said that the excise department officials too have lost interest, and may avoid taking action against those who violate liquor ban rules. 4,167 persons have been held for violating liquor ban rules and 11,679 litres of foreign liquor has been seized in the past five months.
