MP turns to AASU, AJYCP

Sarmah wants liquor ban in Assam

 By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Oct 1: With his appeal to State Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal for alcohol ban not coming to fruition, BJP MP RP Sarmah has now turned to social organizations like AASU and AJYCP to the cause.

Sarmah said: “If alcohol is allowed in the State only for revenue generation, it a false premise. This is because we’ve a number of other areas and departments that haven’t been tapped properly for revenue generation to the fullest extent. We can generate huge amounts of revenues if thrust is laid on those areas. Revenue amounting to around Rs 1,000 crore comes to the State exchequer yearly from liquor against a hefty Rs 5,000 crore yearly in Bihar when liquor was banned in that State,” Sarmah said, and added: “Resource is aplenty in the Forest Department. There are 300 rivers and many hills in the State from where stone is quarried and sand is collected. If stone quarrying and sand collection are done properly we can generate around Rs 2,000 crore revenue yearly. There are other such areas as well.”

Sarmah said: “I wrote a letter to the Chief Minister to ban liquor in the State as alcohol is out to spoil our coming generations. I want liquor should be banned all over India. I’ll raise this issue on the floor of Parliament that alcohol should have no room on the land of Swami Vivekanda, Mahatma Gandhi, Srimanta Sarkardev and Madhabdeb. If Bihar earning Rs 5,000-crore revenue annually from liquor can ban it, why can’t Assam earning a meagre Rs 1,000-crore revenue from the brew ban it? Bihar shares borders with Nepal, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The State Government has successfully banned the entry of liquor to the State from the intertiol border and the borders of the two neighbouring States. In Assam, liquor enters from Bhutan and its neighbouring States.”

Targeting youth and social organizations of the State, the MP tweeted in the social media recently that ‘alcohol related accidents are killing our youths every day. During this puja in three days 24 youths died and over hundred were injured. It pains me unbound. Almost all accidents were alcohol related. If this trend continues in Assam, many houses will face loss of next generation as we Assamese do not produce more than one child, or in rare cases two. Many parents will have none in the family to even offer a glass in their old age. Therefore, I humbly request the AASU, AJYCP, all other students’ organizations, Xatra Mahaxabha, Sankar Sangha and the Government of Assam to completely ban all types of alcohol, foreign and local, in Assam for the sake of future of Assam. I have seen villages after villages being destroyed by alcohol. I also fervently appeal to all concerned and conscious citizens to raise their voice against this mece. If a bigger state with four times more population can ban alcohol, why not Assam!!!!!’ Sarma was very vocal on the plight of tiol highways in Assam recently, and now he has taken up the issue of liquor and its impact on society.