 "The man who bore the brunt of tipplers")
Nitish Kumar bahut hawa mein ud rahe hain. Jaldi hi aise girenge ki phir uth nahi payenge (Nitish Kumar is flying very high these days. He will fall down soon and won’t be able to get up again),” fumed one Rahul Kumar on the state excise department’s dedicated number to receive the public’s reaction on the prohibition law in Bihar.
The state government, earlier this month, decided to ask people to send their “constructive suggestions” on the punitive provisions of the legislation. Advertisements were placed in all major dailies across the state and in Delhi and Mumbai. Suggestions were invited through SMS, fax, email and letter. A control room was set-up at the department. A few officers were deputed and every message was vetted by Excise Commissioner Aditya Kumar Das. The process began on November 1 and it concluded last Saturday.
“Some people did call on the number and gave their insights. Most of them were polite, but as it happens, few calls were not that pleasant,” Das says gently. According to officers in the department, while most suggestions lacked clarity, people by and large applauded prohibition and thanked the department for doing exemplary work.
However, say sources at the department, many people used this opportunity to vent their anger. Some even hurled abuses at the chief minister. In an email, one Ramesh Kumar had written, “Samajhta kya hai apne aap ko? Agle chunav mein akal thikane laga denge Nitish Kumar ki (What does he think of himself? Public will give Nitish Kumar a piece of mind in the next election).”
Another complaint received through SMS said that people are suffering due to the booze ban and Kumar would have to pay for this one day. One Rajesh Kumar pleaded to lift the blanket ban on liquor as “wedding functions have become dull”.
One caller even suggested sale of liquor through ration shops. Another suggested that the state government could introduce “a drinker’s licence” for the “needy”. Many pleaded that at least the sale of beer be permitted in urban areas.
There were several unpleasant calls to the officials. “Some hurled abuses at the chief minister and his family. A few even threatened us with consequences if prohibition wasn’t taken back,” says a senior excise official. Within a couple of days of the opening of the line, the abuses became so severe that the official — to whom that number belonged — gave it back to the department.
However, being a veteran bureaucrat with an experience of three decades, Das knows how to handle such calls. “Prohibition is a positive step, which has benefitted a lot of people,” says he. “Most of the pro-prohibition calls came from rural areas. Almost all of them accepted that ever since alcohol was banned, the law and order situation has improved and accident rates have gone down.”
According to Das, some suggested that the stringent provisions of the law regarding the arrest of all adult members of a family and forfeiture of property if liquor is found at home should be relaxed.
Till November 12, the department had received a total of 1,122 suggestions. “All were arraigned in folders and sent to the chief minister’s secretariat. More than 60 per cent of them were in favour of the new law,” says an officer in the department.
Interestingly, among those who asked for relaxing the norms for armed forces personnel and 5-star hotels, were women lawyers. Anita Kumar, a lawyer at Patna High Court, suggested: “Since defence personnel serve us even in harshest of the conditions, they must be allowed consumption of liquor.” However, the government clarified there will not be any dilution in the prohibition law, though suggestions regarding the penal provisions will be considered.
Das is happy with the whole exercise. “It’s always healthy in a democracy to listen to the public.”
