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Madhya Pradesh Government Is About To Keep Track Of Those Who Drink Regularly

The government says the aim is to deter people from drinking.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

BHOPAL -- Now liquor shops in Madhya Pradesh will keep a record of their most loyal customers.

The state government has said that it will maintain a record of habitual drinkers. All the liquor shops will have to identify and record names of the persons who frequently buy liquor from them.

This record of names has to be kept by all the country-made and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) shops in Madhya Pradesh. The record will be sent to the state government.

The decision comes after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan decided to shut all shops within five kilometers of holy Narmada river. Also, no new liquor shops are being given licence in the state.

It is not clear how the shops will ask the names and maintain the record, and how the liquor buyers would react to the move. But government says the aim is to deter people from drinking.

Excise minister Jayant Malaiya has confirmed the decision. "The State government will not make the names public", Malaiya said.

"It may help us in checking the health of habitual drinkers in future", he told media persons. All shops will also display warning that consumption of alcohol is harmful and bad for health.

The liquor bottles will also have similar message. Government sources say that Chouhan is steadily going to turn MP into a dry state on lines of Gujarat and Bihar

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.