Over 54,000 litres of country-made liquor and 37,000 litres of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) have been seized in Bihar in the past two months after prohibition was implemented on April 1 in the state.
"The Excise department has seized 54,769.8 litres of country-made liquor, 37,670 litres of IMFL besides 5,916 litres of toddy during the drive against liquor in the past two months," Excise Commissioner Kunwar Jang Bahadur said here.
A total 3,645 people have been arrested and sent to jail while 3,859 cases of violation of prohibition have been lodged across the state during the drive in which altogether 34,470 raids were conducted, he said.
The Nitish Kumar-led Grand Secular Alliance government had first banned the manufacture, trade, sale, consumption of country-made liquor from April 1 but later imposed a blanket ban on all types of liquor including foreign liquor in the state on April 5.
Reiterating the government's resolve of 'zero tolerance' on liquor in Bihar, Jang Bahadur said the state government has written to the chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand requesting them not to allow opening of liquor shops in 3.2 km and 5 km radius of bordering districts respectively.
Bihar government has provided 197 breath analyzers to the districts and authorities. Six breath analyzers have been given to each bordering district, while others have been give four each, he said, adding if needed, more breath analyzers would be provided to the districts.
Digital locks have been made compulsory for transporting liquor, spirit and ethanol and 828 of them have been installed so far, the Excise Commissioner said.
The government appointed at least two advocates to monitor Excise cases in each district and seven Excise department employees, including three sub inspectors have been dismissed from service for dereliction of duty, he added.
Cumulatively, 4,660.15 litre of country spirit,
smuggled into Bihar, was seized during the period from various places.
The biggest amount of 2,451.05 litre smuggled country liquor came from Jharkhand, followed by 1,813.73 litre from Nepal, they said.
From Uttar Pradesh, 166.93 litre of illegal country spirit was brought into Bihar from April to August. The biggest seizure of 119.55 litre of country spirit from Uttar Pradesh was made at Gopalganj where 18 persons had died recently because of suspected consumption of hooch, they said.
The officials said a meeting of senior officials of the Excise departments of Bihar and Jharkhand has been called at Koderma in the neighbouring state on September 6 to check smuggling of liquor into Bihar.
