DIMAPUR:
In response to the demands of the church bodies calling for stricter implementation of the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act 1989 in “letter and spirit”, the government, on March 2, called for a meeting with all the stakeholders on March 9, even as Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) reiterated its stand against the purported lifting of the Act in the state.
Earlier in the day, terming the NLTP Act as “a spiritual law”, the Phom Baptist Christian Association (PBCA) said that “spiritual law is always virtuous for the citizens.”
In a release issued on Wednesday, the executive secretary of the association, N Tialemba Phom said the government and NGO leaders need to respect, value, embrace and preserve “this spiritual law (Act) to truly protect us from all harms.”
Echoing PBCA, the Christian Forum Dimapur (CFD) too resolved to appeal to the state government for stricter implementation of the Act. The forum also announced that the churches are ready to support the government in proper implementation of the Act.
The development comes in the backdrop of a consultative meeting held by the committee on NLTP Act with the stakeholders last month.
Meanwhile, opposing the purported proposal to lift the Act, the NPCC accused the government of failing to implement it by deliberately allowing mafias to supply alcohol all over the state.
Pradesh Congress president K Therie said those mafias have an established system of transportation in connivance with all check-gates and are supplying alcohol to people unhindered.
He stated that the objective of NLTP Act was not only to cancel permits and transportation, but to curb the alcohol menace that destroys personal health, families, children vis-à-vis the society and economy.