Prohibition not enough, prevention, detection and rehabilitation plan also needed: Kiran Bedi

New Delhi [India], December 19 (ANI): As Bihar hooch controversy rages on with over 72 deaths and the state government facing criticism for its liquor prohibition policy, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi on Monday said that only prohibition is not enough and "prevention, detection and rehabilitation plan" are also needed.
"Announcement of policies on bootlegging is probably the easiest, but enforcement is the real challenge because in that it requires very heavy policing. It requires regular, relentless and perseverance," Bedi said in a video message.
Bedi emphasised the need for the involvement of the people, particularly women's groups in the prevention of alcoholism.
"It is not just detection, but it also needs prevention plans, and the involvement of the people, particularly women groups, the SHG, the NGOs to detect and prevent and expose. It requires a very high level of integrity in policing. Alcoholism is an issue for families, it impoverishes them, particularly women, and causes crime situations as well. Prohibition must-have prevention, detection plans, rehabilitation plan and awareness plan and public collaborative plans and also treatment plans," she said.
She also stated that policing for the prevention of liquor needs a lot of augmentation, treatment, medical treatment and women's groups
The death toll in Bihar's Chhapra due to the consumption of spurious liquor has mounted to 72. The incident was initially reported on Wednesday.
Most deaths reportedly occurred over Wednesday and Thursday, evoking an uproar inside and outside the Bihar Assembly.
Several leaders of the opposition are claiming more deaths than the official figures.
The Opposition, led by the BJP, took on the ruling JD(U)-RJD over the rising number of hooch deaths despite a ban on the sale and consumption of liquor in the state, which has been in effect since April 2016.
The liquor prohibition law of Bihar came into force in 2016 that states that the manufacture, sale and consumption of liquor were banned in the entire state. People committing serious offences were subjected to jail terms along with fines. (ANI)