'Rasgulla' sale rises by 16.25 percent since ban on liquor: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Motihari (Bihar): Counting virtues of prohibition, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said sale of “rasgulla” has increased by 16.25 percent in past seven months since ban on alcohol in the state. “Sale of Rasgulla has increased by 16.25 percent in the past seven months since prohibition came into effect in Bihar,” Kumar said addressing a Chetna sabha as part of his “Nishchaya yatra” here in Bihar’s East Champaran district. In addition, sale of healthy foods like Peda, paneer and Dahi Matha (product of curd) has also risen since ban on liquor was clamped in Bihar in April, he said. Yesterday, the Chief Minister had reeled figure of hike in sale of milk in the wake of prohibition by 11 percent. Kumar was addressing a rally here on his second stop of Nishchay yatra that started yesterday from Bettiah to take feedback from people on prohibition as well as on “seven resolves” which has been adopted by the government as “policy of governance” for next five years. “Seven resolves” include civic amenities like drinking water, toilet, roads and electricity for every household. Kumar read figures to claim a substantial drop in crime rate after banning liquor, spiced and domestic as well as Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the past seven months. [caption id=“attachment_3099476” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. PTI[/caption] With Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and state police chief P K Thakur present on the dias, Kumar claimed that heinous crimes have seen a slide. Murder cases have dropped by 36 percent in between 1 April to 31 October, this year as compared to during same period in 2015, he said. Likewise, dacoity decreased by 25 per cent, riots by 40 percent, kidnapping for ransom by 56 percent and road accidents by 21 percent, Kumar, who has taken the task of prohibition in a mission mode, said dwelling on impacts of liquor ban. Kumar, who is also JD(U) chief, apparently hit at Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the election promise (of bringing back black money and providing Rs 15 lakh out of it to every citizens) was not fullfilled and instead declared as “jumla” (euphism). But, unlike those “hollow” promises his government has effected prohibition and started works on seven resolves of providing electricity, road, toilet, drinking water and sewage among others to every household before completion of one year of grand secular alliance government. With Agriculture minister Ram Vichar Rai of RJD and Congress minister Madan Mohan Jha with him, Kumar slammed the Centre for permiting trial of GM Mustard and said Bihar would not allow genetically modified mustard in any case. He also hit out at rival BJP for protesting his “Nishchay yatra” with an aim to find publicity in media.