The Bihar Assembly passed the amended Prohibition Bill today amid walkout by Opposition NDA over rejection of its proposals to drop some "draconian" clauses.
The Assembly passed the amended Bihar Excise and Prohibition Bill, 2016 by voice vote after nearly a three-hour discussion marked by heated arguments between the treasury and Opposition benches.
NDA members staged a walkout from the House when the Bill was put to voice vote by Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.
They later took out a protest march to Raj Bhawan and submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramnath Kovind against the amended Bill.
Earlier, answering to the discussion, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar vociferously defended all the clauses added into the new Prohibition Act brought in April this year to plug loopholes that came to the fore during enforcement of complete ban on alcohol in the state.
He tried to answer all apprehensions raised by Opposition members and rejected their proposal to drop some clauses in the amended legislation which they described as "draconian".
The clauses include sending all family members above 18 years of age behind bars in case of recovery of alcohol from a house, a provision the Opposition has termed "draconian".
