"Personally I feel liquor sale should be strictly banned in the country due to its bad affects," Kumar said, adding, he accorded least priority to the Excise department for this reason.
Kumar said,"I have no links with the liquor even remotely" and pointed out it was not feasible to impose a blanket ban on liquor sale due to Enforcement Directorate-related difficulties.
The CM, who was addressing a meeting on prohibition day here, recalled it was clamped in the state in 1977 under the Karpoori Thakur regime, but since there were many problems in enforcing the policy the ban had to be lifted after sometime.
He stated, the state government has regulated liquor sale unmindful of revenue loss and said Bihar government would impose heavy tax on liquor to deter its use.
There were 5,737 licensed liquor shops in Bihar in 2011 which was come down to 5,624 now, Kumar said, adding, the number of liquor shops would not come up in the state.
