Wine shops to disappear in Mizoram as government readies prohibition law

The new law would replace the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Act, 2014 which partially lifted the 18-year total prohibition in the state.

The Mizoram cabinet has decided to table a new bill in the forthcoming Assembly session to bring back prohibition in the state, a minister said.

Wine shops in Mizoram will soon disappear with the government about bring in a prohibition law. (HT FILE PHOTO)

“The Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Bill will be tabled in the forthcoming Budget session of Assembly starting from March 12,” said K Beichhua, minister of state in-charge of Excise and Narcotics department referring to the cabinet meeting on Friday. “The drafting of the law is almost complete,” he said.

Prohibition was one of the major poll planks of the Mizo National Front which returned power after a decade in December 2018. Prohibition is also backed by the Church and other social organisations in the Christian majority state.

The new law would replace the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Act, 2014 brought in by the then Congress government to regulate sale of alcohol in a move which partially lifted the 18-year total prohibition in the state. The earlier prohibition law was called Mizoram Liqour Total Prohibition Act, 1995.

“Prohibition is enough. There is no need to add the word ‘total’,” Beichhua said.

According to a minister in the cabinet, the new law would propose exemptions for certain “special categories” including consumption of alcohol on advice of a medical practitioner, consumption by servicemen and ex-servicemen and consumption of low alcohol content drinks in Christian ceremonies. However, the law would prohibit sale of alcohol in the state. “There will be no wine shops,” this minister said.

Nagaland and Manipur are two other northeastern states where prohibition is in force.