Total prohibition in Mizoram from April

The Zoramthanga government in Mizoram will impose total prohibition in the state from April this year, state Excise and Narcotics Minister K Beichhua said Friday.

The Mizo National Front (MNF) government, which came to power in December 2018 after deseating the Congress, had promised total prohibition in its election manifesto like the other opposition parties in the face of stringent demands for it by the church, which has a big presence in the Christian majority state.

The government has been drafting a prohibition law which is likely to introduced in the state assembly in March during the budget session, officials said.

Prohibition had been force in the north eastern state since February 20, 1997 when the former chief minister Lal Thanhawla came to power heading a Congress government.

The earlier MNF governments of Zoramthanga which was in power from December 1998 to December 2008 had abided by it.

Thanhawla had, however, eased the stringent prohibition law by legislating the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Act, 2014.

The Act had come into effect from January 15, 2015 under which liquor card holders were allowed to purchase limited amount of liquor from wine shops, which were opened for the purpose.

An official statement Friday said that Beichhua has appealed to all concerned officials to be prepared to successfully enforce the prohibition as they would otherwise become the target of NGOs, churches and opposition parties.

The state government would work together with the civil societies and the churches to combat the menace of drugs and alcohol and all the vacant posts in the excise department would be filled up expeditiously to enforce the total prohibition, he said at the general conference of the Mizoram Excise and Narcotics Service Association (MENSA).