Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 28
More than two decades since the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act was enforced, the regulation has remained more on paper than on the ground. It has made bootleggers, and not to mention the enforcement personnel, rich at the expense of crores of rupees in revenue, which could have gone to the state exchequer. This paradoxical situation further has not been helped by four successive governments rather preferring to play it safe, behaving like obedient boys.
In the midst of this contradiction, meek murmurs calling for the Act’s revocation are in crescendo mode, yet, seldom going beyond the four walls of the room. While, on the other side of the coin, any move inviting dialogue on the NLTP’s merits or demerits is greeted with loud voices of resentment, let alone the topic of revocation. Courage, to those who dares, indeed bears dividends.
That aside, Dimapur witnessed yet another public rally. This time it was on alcohol and drugs, and its abuse. Spearheaded by the Naga Women Hoho, Dimapur (NWHD), the objective of the rally was essentially to pressure the powers that be to wholeheartedly check the dual menace of alcohol and drug abuse gripping Nagaland, while calling on the people in general to do the same. The mockery that is the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, more or less, was at the heart of the rally.
Held early Saturday morning at the Clock Tower intersection, prominent personalities of the town were invited to address a gathering of mostly women. Khrielenuo Terhüja, Advisor to the NWHD was one of the speakers. “I find this a big gathering… a symbolic rally to assert the truth of life,” stated Terhüja.
A highly regarded figure, Terhüja is also Advisor to the Naga Mothers’ Association.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s when the movement against alcohol was gaining momentum in Nagaland, “I also joined the movement,” continued Terhüja.
Recalling the time, when she was serving as the Principal of Christian Higher Secondary School (formerly Christian English School), she said that scores of liquor stores had mushroomed in Nyamo Lotha Road alone. The impact of which is still being felt today, she added. Added to this, Dimapur has also become the centre of drug trafficking, which also deserves serious attention. When one and all can condemn killings and drug abuse, why can one also not condemn the use of alcohol, which also is a destroyer of homes, said Terhüja.
President of the Naga Council, Dimapur, Savi Liegise, taking a critical stand on the government’s mute stand on the subject of ‘prohibition’, was of the view that the government should not wait on the public to always hold rallies like this. “’Rs. 750 crore loss in revenue’, stated the government while trying to lift the Act. But the NBCC said, ‘the soul of one person is of more value than 750 crore,” said Liegise bringing to attention the NBCC’s stance on the issue. On the other hand, he added that Nagas can make Rs. 1000 crore in other investments besides liquor. “Rs. 750 crore should not be the basis for lifting prohibition… (which was actually) meant for the good of our generation.”
