Manipur police intensify anti-liquor drives

Imphal, Jan 17: Poll-bound Manipur has been witnessing continuous raids on liquor dens, seizing large quantities of Indian made foreign liquor and locally-made liquor giving a revenue of about Rs 16 lakh to the state till date. The step has been taken up soon after the implementation of Election Commission of India (ECI)’s election code of conduct on January 4. Deputy Superintendent (Headquarters) Irungbam Jatiswar Singh of the state’s Excise department spoke to reporters. He said that the authorities have registered 688 cases apart from collecting (compound) fee of about Rs 16 lakh till date. “We’ve also formed a 24 member special enforcement staff to intensify our activities,” he said. On Friday, the excise officials destroyed 10,124 litres of country liquor and 138.740 litres of IMFL besides collecting fee of Rs 4.54 lakhs at excise office at Lamphelpat near Imphal. Senior excise officer Jatiswar thanked the state’s police and other law enforcing agencies besides the local bodies for their assistance in conducting anti-liquor drives across the state in view of the assembly electionsAssisting the Excise department–which is functioning with a skeletal staff–the district police teams are also conducting regular check-and-ban on the sale of liquor in the state which goes to the polls on March 4 and the 8th. Interestingly, before the ECI’s directive, the police and civil teams have been conducting such drives round the year in Manipur where the Manipur Liquor Prohibition Act is in force for the past 25 years. However, despite prohibition, brewing and consumption of local liquor is permitted in selected pockets as part of concessions to age-old customary practices.