Prosperity after liquor ban reflected in sale of sweets, cars:

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today claimed liquor ban has resulted in economic prosperity of the state as reflected in an "upswing" in the sale of cars and tractors, milk and sweets in the last seven months since prohibition came into force.
"Citizens are spending the money they saved after leaving their drinking habit for good things which in turn is yielding more revenue for the state which it previously got through liquor sale," he told a 'Chetna Sabha' here.
Kumar's critics had earlier said the liquor ban would lead to an annual revenue loss of Rs 5,000 crore for the state.

Launching the third phase of 'Nishchay Yatra', the Chief Minister said prohibition has brought a major social change, particularly in rural areas.
With Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and state police chief P K Thakur present on the dais, he claimed that crime rate has slided significantly in Bihar after prohibition came in force, while sale of cars and tractors recorded an increase of 29 per cent. Sale of motorcycles and tempos registered an increase of 31.6 per cent in the last seven months.
The Chief Minister also said sale of milk during the period increased by 11 per cent while that of sweets like rasgulla by 16.25 per cent, gulab jamun by 15 per cent, peda by 15.5 per cent.

(Reopens CES7)

Kumar has started "Nishchay yatra" to take feedback on
prohibition and also the "seven resolves" which include civic amenities like drinking water, toilet, roads and electricity for every household which the government has adopted as programme of "sushasan" (good governance) for rest of the term.
The Araria stop is part of start of third leg of the yatra that began from West Champaran on November 9 last.
Praising the stringent liquor law in Bihar, Kumar who has toured Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and other places to propagate prohibition, mentioned that a congregation of OBCs in Gujarat recently demanded a Bihar like liquor laws there.

Accompanied by senior minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, he said more than two crore citizens would form a human chain across the length and breath of Bihar on January 21 next for 45 minutes to express their strong resolve in favour of prohibition.
"The human chain which would be get photographed with the help of sattelite would be advertised widely to highlight Bihar's commendable step of implementing liquor ban,"he added.
He told people "jan chetna" (mass awareness) was needed with the liquor law for better results of prohibition and administered oath to them in this regard.