Why state govt lifted the six-year-old liquor ban in Chandrapur district

Maha cited rise in crime rate, illegal sale, fall in growth rate, revenue losses of ₹2,571 crore in five years; activists, Oppn call data fake and exaggerated, say govt lacks willpower

MUMBAI: The six-year-old liquor ban at Chandrapur district in Vidarbha region was lifted by the Maharashtra government last week. While experts and activists said poor implementation failed the attempts to ban liquor, the state government has reasoned multiple issues, including rise in crime rate, illegal sale and smuggling of alcohol from other districts, fall in growth rate of the district as well as revenue losses accounting to ₹2,571 crore in five years, behind revoking it.

The cabinet in its meeting on May 27 referred to the 100-page report submitted by a 13-member committee headed by former excise commissioner Ramanath Jha and comprised legal experts, activists, educationists and officials from various government departments.

The committee said that the implementation of the ban has grossly failed, resulting in the rampant sale of illicit and spurious liquor, which is injurious to the health. Secondly, while the government lost on its excise revenue, the high sale of illegal and smuggled liquor led to the rise in crime rate. The liquor ban also had an impact on the social, health and criminal aspects, with the involvement of children and women in the illegal sale of liquor being the most worrisome, the report stated. Lastly, the public opinion over the ban appears to have changed because of the failed implementation and it has resulted in citizen groups demanding that the prohibition be revoked.

However, the committee has recommended that the ban can continue if the implementation is taken seriously. It has also stated that if the measures suggested by the Deotale committee – appointed in 2011 before the ban came into force – were enforced rigorously, liquor can be prohibited by allocating more funds and resources. The Jha committee also recommended taking a decision on continuing the ban based on its assessment in rural and urban parts of the district. Finally, it also recommended for a state-level liquor ban policy, instead of imposing it in some districts.

What went against ban

The committee collated the fiveyear before and after data from various departments to assess the impact of the liquor ban. In its report, the committee stated that the annual growth in stamp duty contracted between 2015 and 2019 to 8.15% from 26.14% recorded in 2010-2014. Similarly, the annual value-added tax (VAT)/ goods and services tax (GST) growth rate contracted to 1.87%, during the five years of ban against 16.32% recorded before it. The committee also observed that tourism, entertainment and hospitality sectors were badly hit.

According to the panel, crimes against women shot up to 4,042 during the 2015-19 period from 1,729 cases in 2010-2014, while the cases against children increased to 64 from 24 in the five-year period before the ban.

The cases related to liquor consumption went up to 36,215 in the first five years of the ban against 12,474 cases from 2010 to 2014. Other crime cases, too, saw around two-fold rise from 25,101 to 47,050 in 2015-2019. “Children and women were roped into to smuggle liquor from the neighbouring Nagpur, Bhandara and Yavatmal districts to evade the police. Many students who travel to their colleges to Nagpur were caught smuggling liquor bottles in their bags. The number of illegal shops selling smuggled and spurious liquor mushroomed in thousands, against the 531

Data from the 100-pg document

licensees that existed before ban. More serious was the rise in organised crime, as gangs of goons entered in the business of illegal sale. The fact that 26 people were booked under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act in the first five years of ban shows the severity of the crime situation of the district. There was not a single case registered under MPDA from 2010 to 2014,” said an excise department official.

The report submitted by the committee has also stated that the government exchequer faced a revenue loss of ₹1,607 crore in excise and VAT worth ₹964 in the first five years of ban.

It stated that out of the 269,824 memoranda received from the citizens during a referendum, 243,627 proposed that the ban be lifted, while only 25,876 favoured its continuation. Home, excise and finance departments of the state government seconded the proposal to lift the ban, while rural development, social justice and woman and child welfare departments expressed their reservations in lifting it.

Politics behind decision

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was in favour of lifting the liquor ban from Day one of its formation in November 2019. A committee under the district collector was appointed immediately after MVA came in power. It submitted its report last March, favouring the withdrawal of the ban. When the government tried to lift the ban on the basis of the report, the district witnessed a huge uproar, with locals saying the report was biased and the data fudged.

Social activists such as Paromita Goswami and Dr Abhay Bang staunchly opposed the lifting of the ban. Treading cautious steps, the government appointed the Jha committee in September.

Chandrapur’s guardian minister and state relief and rehabilitation minister from the Congress, Vijay Wadettiwar, had made the issue the election plank by assuring the electorate that the ban will be lifted. “The lifting of ban was based on the referendum in which public opinion was weighed. The sale of illegal and spurious liquor had increased multi-fold and crime rate shot up. More than 4,000 women and 320 children were booked for direct involvement in illicit liquor business. The ban led to other ill-effects as well, owing to which it has been lifted,” he said.

In 2015 BJP leader and former Chandrapur guardian minister Sudhir Mungantiwar assured the locals that liquor will be banned if the party is elected to power in the 2014 stat polls. The ban was one of the decisions taken by Devendra Fadnavis government in the first six months. Mungantiwar alleged that the data given by the district machinery are fudged and fake. “The decision to lift the ban was taken for political and other reasons. Many Congress and NCP leaders are directly involved in the liquor business at Chandrapur and the adjoining districts. The state is eyeing an annual sale of ₹1,000 crore for liquor, but it will come at the cost of people’s health and well-being. Their claim of revenue losses is not true because the excise duty is levied on manufacturing,” he said. Mungantiwar added that MVA’S priority is to push the liquor businesses and the decision to give waivers to the industry in the past 18 months prove it.

Dissenting voices

Dr Bang, who has been fighting for liquor ban in Chandrapur and Gadchiroli said that the figures given to revoke the decision were exaggerated and twisted.

“The public opinion taken in the name of the referendum was a sham and the memoranda collected in favour of lifting the ban were generated by those who were in the liquor business. The figures given for the rise in crime rate are inflated because the number of domestic violence cases and the general crimes have reduced. The data includes cases registered for illegal sale of liquor. A survey done by NGO Search and Nagpur University establishes that the ban had a positive impact. The collector, who should have been the nodal officer to implement the ban, was asked to review and submit a report after the political leadership announced to lift it. This is a mockery of the law,” he said.

Dr Bang said Chandrapur’s ban failed because its implementation fell short. “No ban proves to be 100% effective. The ban in adjoining Gadchiroli is 70% successful as 600 of the total villages have implemented it. We have taskforces in villages for its implementation. As CM, Fadnavis had headed the taskforce for the district. If it could be successful in Gadchiroli, why can’t it be replicated in Chandrapur? And if the ban is lifted for failure in implementation, ban on tobacco, corruption and plastic, too, should be lifted,” he added. Goswami said the government lacked the willpower to implement it. “The state passed an ordinance in September 2019 for stricter implementation of prohibition , but MVA did not convert it into a law,” she said.