Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said voice for liquor ban has started to rise in other states and pointed at the two major political contenders in Tamil Nadu - AIADMK and DMK announcing a ban on alcohol after the state Assembly elections there.
"The announcement of AIADMK and DMK reflects how fast the concept of Bihar going for total prohibition is spreading in other regions," Kumar told reporters after his weekly 'Janata Ke Darbar mein Mukhya Mantri' programme.
Kumar, who declared Bihar a total dry state last week, said states like Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, sharing borders with Bihar and who were enjoying a jump in sales of alcohol after prohibition in Bihar, would soon face similar demand against alcohol from their people.
The Bihar Chief minister, who announced total prohibition after a cabinet meeting last Tuesday, rubbished the decision playing "havoc" on tourism and hospitality sectors in the state.
He also trashed pleas of hotel and restaurant owners that the ban has hit their business and would be a big deterrent to people coming to Bihar.
"They mean to say people used to visit them only for boozing?" Kumar asked adding, "Everybody knows that foreign tourists visit Bihar mainly out of respect for Buddhist holy places in the state. Others come to perform 'pind daan' of their ancestors... Will they stop coming to Bihar after the ban on alcohol?"
Coming down heavily against the argument placed by some hotel and bar-cum-restaurant owners coming out against total prohibition, Kumar said his decision on prohibition was taken after much thought and could not be changed.
"You can understand that I ordered the ban on liquor in one stroke of pen without caring loss of revenue of Rs 5,000 crore annually generated out of it," he said.
In reply to a question about media reports on the death of four habitual drunkards so far in de-addiction centres after the ban, Kumar said he lamented such tragedy.
He said the state government would pay compensation to the family in such incidents of loss of life in de-addiction centres.
