Cong seeks complete ban on liquor in C'garh, stages walkout

Opposition Congress staged a walkout from the Chhattisgarh Assembly today seeking complete ban on the sale of liquor in the state.

During the Question Hour, state Congress chief and senior MLA Bhupesh Baghel raised the issue of sale of beer in the state and accused the Raman Singh-led government of promoting specific brands instead of giving multiple options to the consumers.

"Consumers are not being given other brands of beer except Simba and Sumo to give undue advantage to a particular manufacturer," he said.

"The sale of Simba and Sumo beer brands was 80-90 per cent this year in the absence of other brands in most of the shops," he claimed.

The Congress legislator also asked whether any BJP leader have shares in these two beer manufacturing companies.

State Commerce, Industry and Excise Minister Amar Agrawal, however, rejected the charges and said if the Congress names those ruling party leaders who have shares in these two companies, he would take action against them.

"The sale of Simba and Sumo brands was recorded 40 per cent in 2017-18," he said adding that the supply of particular brands is made based on the consumers' demand.

Replying to a query, the minister said that 26.50 lakh beer bottle boxes were sold in 2016-17, while only 19.52 lakh such boxes were sold in 2017-18.

The minister cited shifting of liquor shops located along the highways as per the Supreme Court order and closure of over 100 bars (located along the highways) as the reasons behind the decline in the sale.

In response, Baghel claimed that the sale of beer has gone down as only some specific beer brands were available in the market.

Meanwhile, senior Congress MLA Satyanarayan Sharma and other opposition MLAs sought to know when will the government completely ban the sale of liquor in the state.

To this, the minister said that it is a comprehensive subject and the state government is working on it by constituting a study team.

Subsequently, the Congress members staged a walkout in the House, demanding complete ban on liquor in the state.