Says Nagaland’s Prohibition Act a ‘role model’ in India & abroad
Dimapur, April 7 (MExN): The Dimapur Ao Baptist Pastors Fellowship (DAABAPF) has expressed its opposition to any proposal to relax the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act 1989 in Dimapur or any part of the State.
Instead, it has called for enhancing the enforcement mechanism to make it more effective.
"Relaxing the enforcement of the law in Dimapur or any part of Nagaland would be like keeping one of the doors open, which will eventually pave the way for free access all over Nagaland," the DAABAPF stated in a letter to the Nagaland Chief Minister.
"No amount of consideration - monetary, revenue, business purposes, employment, etc., should be allowed to stand above the existing act that stands against the evils caused by the use of alcoholic drinks," stated the March 25 letter, released to the media here on Sunday.
“Undoing the NLTP Act 1989 will be a blunder which will further destroy the fabric of society and families,” it added.
Elaborating further on its position, the DAABAPF pointed out that the civil societies under the leadership of the NBCC approached the Nagaland legislature to enact laws to control the use of alcoholic drinks to "safeguard the future generations of Naga society."
The approach was made with the understanding that moral and religious education alone could not reform the societies without the law enforcing agency, it said.
The Fellowship further maintained that the Act has "seemingly achieved the noble objective as we are the living witnesses to the social evils of those days of Pre-NLTP Act 1989 and the current social environment."
"We would like to make it clear that so far as the manufacture and use of alcoholic drinks control by legislation is concerned, Nagaland is regarded as a role model in the country as well as abroad," it added. Accordingly, the DAABAPF expressed concern over views for relaxation of the NLTP Act 1989 in Dimapur district.
These opinions may be attributed to a lack of vigour in the NLTP Act 1989 due to the rampant availability of alcoholic drinks in the State, more particularly in Dimapur, it said.
Accordingly, it contended that government machineries armed with the vigour of the law "must put more effort than now to control the situation and urged the CM’s office top make corrective measures on the loopholes and reinforced the Act.
Empower the authority of the Excise Department and bolster its personnel to increase effectiveness, the DAABAPF suggested in the letter appended by its President Rev. Temsu Jamir and Secretary Marnungba.
It also called for making offenses under the NLTP Act a “non-compoundable felony.”
