DHAKA: India’s Bihar state has declared total ban on the sale of all forms of alcohol with immediate effect in a move seen as fulfillment of an election promise made by state chief minister Nitish Kumar.

‘Liquor will not be sold in any bar, pub or hotel from now onwards,’ Nitish Kumar said at a press conference in the state capital, Patna, days after a partial ban was implemented in the state of 100 million.

‘We have decided to place complete ban on liquor in the state,’ Kumar, who had promised to ban liquor before re-election in November last year, tweeted.

Abdul Bari Siddiqui, state’s finance minister, told Al Jazeera that positive public response and demand from women led the government to go for total prohibition five days after a partial ban was put in place.

On Thursday, the state assembly passed a bill to ban country-made liquor that has been blamed for deaths in the past.

The bill has provision for capital punishment for those engaged in manufacturing or trading illicit liquor in case people die after consuming them.

Bihar has become the fourth state after Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram states to impose blanket ban on liquor.

BDST: 1754 HRS, APR 06, 2016
RR