Raipur:
In a move aimed at imposing a total ban on alcohol consumption in Chhattisgarh, the state government has shut down 263 liquor shops in rural areas, an official said Tuesday.
"The government is working on a policy to make a phase-wise complete ban on alcohol," a commercial taxes department official told IANS.
"In the first phase, the government has shut down 227 country-made liquor shops and 36 foreign liquor shops in the current fiscal 2011-12," he added.
The shops were based in villages having population less than 2,000 people and the government was receiving regular complaints from women that even kids were getting addicted to liquor, the official said.
"The decision to close down 263 liquor shops is estimated to cost Rs.100 crore revenue annually to the government exchequer. But the government is determined to make a speedy move to make a complete ban on liquor," he added.