Chandrapur bans liquor sale in six municipal council areas for Ganesh immersion

District Collector Vasumana Pant has ordered retail liquor sale to remain suspended in six municipal council areas of Chandrapur district during the immersion of public Ganesh idols, to maintain peace and order.

All licensed retail liquor shops in the Rajura, Mool, Warora, Chimur, Bhadravati and Brahmapuri municipal council areas will have to remain closed for the entire day on the relevant date. This means no licensed shop in these six towns will be allowed to sell liquor on the day the order applies to that town.

Large-scale immersion of public Ganesh idols will take place in the four talukas of Rajura, Mool, Warora and Chimur on September 26, while immersion in Bhadravati and Brahmapuri talukas will take place on September 27. Since crowds and traffic are expected to rise sharply on both days, the administration has decided on the liquor sale ban as a preventive measure to ensure nothing untoward happens during this period. The objective behind the decision is to prevent any confusion or untoward incident linked to liquor consumption at a time when large numbers of citizens participate in the immersion processions.

In issuing the order, Collector Vasumana Pant exercised powers vested in district collectors under Section 142(1) of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act, 1949. Under this legal provision, collectors are empowered to suspend liquor sale for a specified period if considered necessary for law and order. As per the order, the ban will apply for the entire day of September 26 to FL-2, CL/FL/TOD-3, FL-BR-2, FL-3 and CL-3 category retail liquor licences in the Rajura, Mool, Warora and Chimur municipal council areas, and for the entire day of September 27 to the same categories of licences in the Bhadravati and Brahmapuri municipal council areas. Shops operating under all these licence categories will have to remain completely closed from morning to night on the respective day.

The district administration has said that all licence holders must strictly comply with the order. The administration has issued a clear warning that strict action will be taken as per rules against licence holders who violate the order or the provisions of the rules. The administration has already issued instructions regarding security arrangements for crowd management and maintaining law and order during the Ganesh immersion processions, and has made clear that action can be taken for non-compliance. Licence holders in all six municipal council areas have been clearly instructed not to open their shops on the relevant day.

Immersion processions during the public Ganeshotsav period draw a large turnout in Chandrapur district every year, and the administration implements such preventive measures annually to prevent law and order issues arising from the crowds during this period. This year too, the Collector has issued this order in keeping with the same tradition.