Nitish stresses on nabbing kingpins of illicit liquor trade

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today expressed concern over the inability of the police to nab kingpins of gangs involved in illicit liquor trade in the state which banned sale and consumption of alcohol nearly two years ago.
Chairing a high-level meeting of the police department in Patna, Kumar said, "While many persons involved in the illicit liquor trade have been arrested, the kingpins are roaming scot-free. Big suppliers and mafias involved in the business ought to be identified and nabbed and their entire system of functioning must be demolished".
He said, "If only 10-20 big suppliers are caught, the illegal trade will collapse. Prohibition is an important social reform measure by us and public opinion is on our side. People who used to waste their money on liquor are now investing in other things. This is resulting in an increased growth rate".

The Chief Minister also issued instructions to equip the office of Inspector General of Police, Prohibition, a post which was created a few months ago, with adequate human resources and infrastructure.
He called for tough action against any police personnel found directly involved in or guilty of laxity in controlling illicit liquor trade.
Kumar also gave instructions for installing CCTV cameras on national highways, state highways and main roads of districts for keeping a tab on movement of trucks laden with liquor.
Earlier during the meeting, a presentation was made before him wherein it was shown that compared to the previous year the number of cases of violation of liquor ban witnessed a three-fold rise in 2017 and the number of arrests too rose by four times.