The district became a 'dry district' officially from today, after the imposition of a ban on sale and consumption of liquor in any part of the district from April 1.
District Collector Deepak Mhaisekar convened a meeting of representatives from various industrial establishments in the district directing them to organise awareness programmes for their workers about ill effects of liquor and also conduct courses for de-addiction if required.
Liqour prohibition in the district was welcomed by many social organisations in the city.
Gopal Mundhada, president of Chandrapur Bachao Sangharsh Samiti was found distributing sweets in Jatpura Gate locality following implementation of the ban.
He said that liquor ban was the need of the hour and it would benefit poor workers in a big way besides saving young college going youth from getting hooked to the habit.
Superintendent of State Excise Surendra Manpia informed that as many as 381 licenses out of a total of 513 licenses were cancelled by his department shortly after midnight.
Meanwhile, President of the District Wine Bar Association Parvindarsingh Bhatia stressed that no major stock was left with liquor dealers here and the remaining stock has been handed over to the Excise Department, as per procedure.
"Now, we are left with no alternative but to migrate to other nearby districts, except Wardha and Gadchiroli, for our business, as our licenses are permitted for migration as per rules. It would be herculean task to see that our workers, who are around 10,000 in number, are employed elsewhere," Bhatia said.
