All liquor shops across MP to be shut down in phases: Chouhan

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh is headed towards total prohibition with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announcing that all liquor shops would be closed across the state in a phased manner. "Alcohol prohibition will be implemented in the entire state by closing all liquor shops in a phased manner," Chouhan announced yesterday while addressing a programme at village Neemkhera (Heerapur) of Narsinghpur district.

This programme was organised during the ongoing river conservation awareness campaign 'Namami Devi Narmade - Narmada Seva Yatra.' "In the first phase, the state government closed all the shops falling within a radius of five kilometers from the banks of river Narmada on either side. In the next phase, the liquor shops would not be allowed to open in residential localities, near educational institutes or religious places," he said. Chouhan reiterated that a de-addiction drive would also be launched in the state.

During past one month, several protests against the liquor shops have been reported from across the state. On April 5, the protesters had burnt two vehicles and damaged four others in Bareli town of Raisen district when Excise Department was trying to shift the liquor shops from a highway to a local residential colony.

Earlier on April 3, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Indore-1, Sudarshan Gupta had demanded total liquor prohibition in the state while extending support to the agitation against the opening of liquor shop. Besides, protests were also reported from several parts of the state including Indore, Sagar, Burhanpur, Chhatarpur, Vidisha, Narsinghpur, Satna, Morena, Dewas and some other towns during past one month.