DIMAPUR, MAY 14: The Excise division of Dimapur on Friday destroyed assorted liquor that was seized during the period October 2015-April 2016 as part of enforcement of the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act. .
The 7-month cache comprised 2, 634 bottles of rum, 41, 46 bottles of whisky, 15, 173 bottles of beer, 112 bottles of gin, 331 bottles of vodka, 155 bottles of wine, and 193 bottles of Breezer; 1, 500 pieces of yeast.
The total street value of the destroyed items was estimated to be Rs. 27, 18,000. The fine exacted for offence was estimated at Rs. 1, 82, 400, according to a report provided by the Superintendent of Excise, Chotingse, on Friday.
The Additional Commissioner for Excise, Phitongse Sangtam, said that the department was trying its best to ‘do away with the liquor business’ with just a little over 300 personnel in enforcement.
Sangtam said that to fulfill the Total Prohibition Act, it was not only the duty of the enforcement personnel but the public and churches’ as well. They must also contribute to keeping the state ‘clean,’ he said. The Excise official encouraged the public to step forward, he said.
The chairman of the ‘destruction board’, Lanuwati, also said during the program that the community ought to ‘help’ the department. To see Nagaland become a truly dry state, the landlords and colonies should disallow tenants who engage in liquor businesses, he said, with the reminder that ‘prohibition is peoples’ work.’
Lanuwati also lamented that although the government had declared the act as far back in 1989, the functioning of the Excise department had yet to be streamlined. With just 321 personnel enforcing the Act, prohibition enforcement is in need of more manpower, he said while urging citizens to work for the cause. He added that the department had been providing revenues to the state’s government.
According to reports made available for the public, the division has added to the state’s coffers Rs.14.70 crore during the period 2013-2016.
Officials from district administration and the police, besides community leaders, were at the program.