Liquor policy: Govt to hold talks with CSOs today
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, September 29 2022: CAF&PD minister L Susindro has informed that the government would be holding dialogue with CSOs and Meira Paibi organisations which have been opposing legalisation of liquor on Friday.

Speaking at the inauguration of a community hall and a building for Self Help Groups (SHGs) at Khurai Chingangbam Leikai GP office on Thursday, Susindro acknowledged that the CSOs and Meira Paibi groups launched movement against liquor consumption as they had experienced the negative impact of excessive drinking either in their families or the society.

Some localities and communities have been brewing liquor for thousands of years and it has become a part of their tradition and religious activities.

A somewhat similar situation also exists in Goa where many of the households produce liquor at their home as a tradition.

The only difference is that liquor consumption rate is high in the state and low in Goa.

Regarding the recent survey, he said three Manipur government representatives requested the Goa government to send an expert team to examine the liquor being brewed in the state.

As per their assessment, the experts opined that the liquor brewed in the state contains toxic chemicals, which should not be present in any approved liquor.

Earlier, earthen pots were used for brewing and distillation in the state but today the metal utensils being used in the process cause chemical reaction making the liquor unsuitable for human consumption.

The experts likened the local liquor of the state to slow poisoning, the minister said.

He then informed that under the new policy, the government would be regulating the whole process.

Aluminium utensils will be replaced by copper utensils and plastic containers by stainless steel containers while the pipe used for distillation will be replaced by either bamboo or copper pipes to avoid harmful chemical reaction.

The government will set up liquor collection centres at 10 locations where the filtration process will be done before taking to the packaging unit.

Moreover, the government will revise the legal age of consuming liquor from 18 to 21, and certain regulations will be enforced to ensure safe consumption of liquor, he added.

Susindro further said that the CMHT scheme introduced by the government is mostly utilised in the treatment of liver diseases, which resulted in exhaustive draining of state's exchequer.

The policy to legalise liquor will also help in addressing this issue as well, he explained.

Legalising liquor does not mean allowing unregulated sale of liquor anywhere like being experienced now.

Both sale and consumption will be regulated under a strict set of guidelines and there will be strict clamp down on violators, he said.

Maintaining that the Biren-government had done and achieved a lot, which the public did not think would be possible, the minister appealed to the people to have their trust On the government and support the policy.

On the other hand, the minister expressed elation that there is a separate office for SHGs in the VLF office being inaugurated and expressed hope that the remaining three offices of VLFs will be completed soon.

Unfortunately, the society is full of people, who are ready to oppose any positive initiative.

There are only a handful of people who point out shortcomings of elected representatives to bring positive changes while there are plenty who are ready to court arguments wherever possible without understanding the merits, he said.

Talking about assistance provided to the people in the form of looms and sewing machines by the industry department, he Said that the department is considering formation of clusters and common work shed without distributing the machines to the individual members of SHGs.

Speaking at the event, Khurai Chingangbam Leikai GP pradhan L Kananbala informed that the community hall and SHG building were constructed under state finance commission.

Any individual or organisation can hire the community hall by paying a minimum charge, which will help in generating revenue of the Panchayat.

There are four VLFs under the GP and construction of SHG building for the remaining VLFs have been included in the work programme.

Unfortunately, her term will be over soon, she said and urged the public to support her in the forthcoming election so that she could complete the work she started.

DC Imphal East Khumanthem Diana and Heingang CD Block BDO Amuthoi Kha-Nganba also attended the programme as guests of honour.

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