Imphal, June 17: Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh today admitted on the floor of the Assembly that his government’s attempts to lift prohibition from the state had come a cropper, despite enacting a legislation. He attributed this failure to strong objections from non-governmental organisations.
Rounding off the budget discussion in the Assembly, which was boycotted by the Opposition, Ibobi Singh conceded that his government’s efforts to scrap the Prohibition Act from the whole of Manipur were scuttled following stiff opposition from Meira Paibis and other youth organisations. The House had passed the Bill and the governor had given his assent last year.
The chief minister said in view of the limited resources of the state, his government had hoped that at least Rs 40 crore would be realised from excise tax every year once prohibition was lifted.
“Despite passing the new law, the government could not lift prohibition owing to the strong opposition,” he told the House. Prohibition was promulgated in Manipur for the first time by the R.K. Ranbir Singh government in 1991 following public outcry.
Before the government clampdown, the militant People’s Revolutionary Army (PLA) had imposed a complete ban on the sale and consumption of India-made foreign liquor (IMFL) in the state.
The chief minister also informed the House that the state government’s attempt to earn revenue through online lotteries could not succeed after the agency stopped the draw within a month of their launch.
The state government had hoped to garner annual revenue worth Rs 40 crore from online lotteries. But the agency which signed the deal with the state government opted out, blaming objections to the sale of tickets in other states. Ibobi Singh said Karanataka, Kerala and Maharashtra had strongly opposed sale of Manipur online lottery tickets.