Officials hand in glove with illegal liquor traders in Bihar:

Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan today cast aspersions on implementation of prohibition in Bihar, as he accused officials of being hand in glove with illegal liquor traders in the state.
He also hit out at the state government over reports of rats guzzling down 9.15 lakh litres of liquor kept in stores in police stations, terming it "ridiculous" and said chief minister Nitish Kumar was busy gloating about prohibition.
"Nitish Kumar had opened liquor shops in almost every village in the 10 years of his regime and now he is talking about prohibition just to show off ... The prohibition campaign is an eye-wash and ridiculous.

"Prohibition will never be successful in Bihar. Not even in saat janam (seven lives) because the corruption in bureaucratic level has increased tremendously. Even lower-rung officers are now dealing in lakhs of rupees," the Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution told reporters here.
"Officers are hand in glove with illegal liquor traders (in Bihar). Now liquor is being directly served at home," he alleged.
Paswan also expressed concern over alleged smuggling of liquor into Bihar despite prohibition being in force for over one year.
Referring to media reports of rats guzzling down a phenomenal 9.15 lakh litres of liquor that were kept in police malkhana (stores) in Bihar since the ban came into being, Paswan said nothing could be more "ridiculous" than this.

Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) held its national executive here during the day.