AIZAWL:
Mizoram government has lifted prohibition on the manufacturing and selling of wines made from home-grown grapes, and is now in the process of vetting a new rule.
Mizoram excise and narcotics minister, Dr K. Beichhua, informed the state assembly on September 6 that ‘Grape wine rules’ has been drafted and sent to the state law and judicial department for vetting.
Replying to supplementary questions, Beichhua said that the ‘grape wine rules’ would allow manufacture and sale of wine made from the harvest of the grape farmers in the state and manufacture and sale of grape wine from grapes grown outside the state would not be allowed.
“Wine made from other fruits, other than grapes, would also not be allowed under the grape wine rules,” he said, adding, that excise duty would be levied by the state government from the finished grape wines, as specified in the rules.
The minister said that all the opposition parties, including the Congress, Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and the BJP signed the document saying that they agreed to the making of wine rules to facilitate manufacture and sale of grape wines.
The grape grower societies of Champhai and Hnahlan towns and surrounding villages in Myanmar border Champhai district appealed to the opposition parties to sign the document, he informed the assembly on its first day of the current session.
Replying to a supplementary whether grape wine bottles worth over Rs 22 lakh, seized from the vendors at the Millennium Centre on May 27 by the excise and narcotics department officials would be returned to the rightful owners, Beichhua said that the decision would be made after notification of the wine rules.
Meeting of the Mizoram council of ministers on August 30 gave assent to the proposed wine rules which would allow manufacture and sale of wine made from home grown grapes harvested by the local farmers in the state.
The assent was given by the council of ministers meeting chaired by the state chief minister Zoramthanga which approved the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Draft Rules, 2022 for effective implementation of the prohibition in the state by enforcing the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Act, 2019.
Meanwhile, Champhai Grape Growers Society (CGGS) and the Baptist Church of Mizoram (BCM), the second largest church in the state, inked the third Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday for using wine manufactured in Champhai Winery by the church for sacramental wine.
The MoU was signed on behalf of the BCM by its general secretary Rev. R. Lalbiakliana and on behalf of the CGGS by its chairman H.S. Vanlalfakzuala.
The BCM and the CGGS had signed two MoUs on November 11, 2016 and on October 5, 2019 to ensure that the former would purchase the products of the latter as sacramental wine at a certain rate.
The MoU could not be continued after the Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Act, 2019 was in force in the state and the third MoU was signed to revive the agreement in the wake of the decision of the council of ministers to allow manufacture and sale of homegrown wine under the proposed wine rules.
Rev R Lalbiakliana said that the grape wine produced by the CGGS was used by the BCM as sacramental wine for religious rites, and expressed the hope that other church denominations also use it as it would help the grape grower.