Srinagar, Sept 24 (KNS) : A private member’s Bill seeking a ban on alcohol in Jammu and Kashmir, pending for nearly two years, came into focus in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday, with Kupwara MLA Fayaz Mir alleging that the government was not keen on taking it up and saying he would seek the Speaker’s intervention to revive it.
Mir said he had introduced the Bill during the first session of the present Assembly and had been waiting for it to be taken up.
“This is a private member’s Bill, which I brought two years ago in the first session. It states that there should be a ban on alcohol in J&K,” he said.
The PDP MLA said he had also undertaken programmes as part of efforts to raise awareness against substance abuse, but the proposed legislation had not reached the stage of consideration in the House.
“The government does not want such Bills,” Mir said.
“This is a Muslim-majority state,” he said, while pointing to Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, where prohibition policies are in force.
“There is a ban on alcohol in Gujarat and UP,” Mir said.
Mir said his Bill proposed a ban on alcohol in Jammu and Kashmir but had remained pending.
“I brought this Bill that there should be a ban on alcohol in J&K. The Bill has not been taken up,” he said.
The MLA said he would now approach Assembly Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather and request that the proposal be brought before the House again.
“I hope that in the coming days, I will request the Speaker to bring this Bill again,” he added.(KNS)