AIZAWL, Jan 17: The
newly installed Mizo National Front Government’s
(MNF’s) move to impose
prohibition in Mizoram has
forced liquor vendors and
bonded warehouse owners
to go to court, seeking time
to clear their stocks before
prohibition.
The MNF, which had
promised to impose prohibition in order to appease the
powerful church, declared
dry days from December 21,
2018 to January 14, 2019. This
declaration of prolonged dry
days was the first thing that
the Zoramthanga Government, inducted on December
15, did.
As the dry days have
since been extended from
January 14 to March 10, it has
become clear that the Zoramthanga Government has
no intention to give time for
stock clearance. By Marchend, the new Government
will hold the Assembly Session in which a new legislation is likely to be passed for
prohibition.
Owners of the three bonded warehouses have separately filed petitions, whereas the
vendors filed a petition together at the Aizawl Bench of the
Gauhati High Court today.
They were represented by
four senior advocates.
The High Court admitted
the petition and fixed January
22 for hearing.
One of the vendors, Francis Sailo, said there are liquor stocks worth more than
Rs 40 crore in the bonded
warehouses. A woman warehouse owner, who did not
wish to be named, said she
is facing the possibility of
bankruptcy.
“I took a loan to start the
warehouse about two years
back. If the Government does
not give me time to clear my
stocks, I will be bankrupt as I
won’t be able to repay the
loan,” she said.
The woman in question
has 100 permits for which
she has already paid taxes,
which means that 100 more
truckloads of liquor are still
to arrive.
The Government has not
stopped entry of liquor for
which the warehouse owners
have already placed orders.
“Truckloads of liquor arrive
everyday, but there is no outlet which means that we are
running into losses,” she said.
Both the vendors and
warehouse owners still have
to pay rent, electricity bills
and salaries for staff and private security.
“We lose around Rs 3 to
Rs 4 lakh every day,” said a
vendor.
The liquor vendors
and warehouse owners said
they had met the State Excise and Narcotics Minister
and Chief Minister Zoramthanga, but had very little hope for ‘exit protocol’.
“Going by the words of
Chief Minister Zoramthanga, we may not be
given time for stock clearance. We have imported liquor legally. But when the
Government imposes prohibition, our business will become illegitimate. We do not
know if the Government is
going to compensate us. But
a sum of Rs 40 crore is a
huge amount even for the
Government to compensate,” they pointed out.
The liquor vendors and
warehouse owners suspect
that the Mizoram Government will extend the dry
days after March 10 to bide
time for legislating a ban on
liquor sales.
Days after assuming office,
Chief Minister Zoramthanga
had banned the sale of alcohol
by Government-owned shops
which numbered nine. All liquor warehouses and liquor
shops have since been closed.
The MNF had promised to
bring back the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act
(MLTP), 1995, which was replaced in 2014 by the Congress despite opposition from
church bodies and civil society groups. ~ Assam Tribune
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