Mizoram to go dry from Friday

GUWAHATI: The Zoramthanga government in Mizoram on Tuesday decided to declare dry days from Friday to January 14 and shut all liquor shops operated by state agencies.
“There is no time for legislation now as there are Christmas and New Year coming, we have declared dry day from December 21 to January 14. This is the prelude to the total alcohol ban, which we promised to bring during the assembly polls,” Mizoram’s chief minister Zoramthanga told ET.

He said that by early next year the new government will legislate and clamp total prohibition on liquor. Zoramthanga had made total prohibition of liquor a major electoral plank in the Christian-dominated Mizoram. The state government will soon start the process of drafting a legislation banning liquor.

The earlier Congress government had defied the powerful Presbyterian Church and organisations such as Young Mizo Association (YMA) replaced the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act (MLTP), 1995. Following this, the first wine shop opened in Aizawl on March 16, 2015. Both MNF and Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM) had campaigned against the lifting of prohibition.