Kalaburagi, Apr 24 (DHNS): Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has called for a well-considered national policy on prohibition. For prohibition to succeed in any state, the neighbouring states, too, should have similar law in place. Therefore, there is a need for formulating a national policy on prohibition, he told media persons on Saturday.

He was replying to a question on whether Karnataka would go for prohibition as Bihar had already opted for it and Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand were also thinking along those lines.

He pointed out that prohibition had been in force from 1950 in Gujarat and it was not a great success. “For prohibition to be successful, every state should have the law in place. If we declare prohibition and our neighbouring states do not have the same law, there will be a huge flow of illegal and unauthorised liquor into the state, which will be very difficult to prevent,” Siddaramaiah said.

He said that in the late 1990s, as the head of a Cabinet committee on prohibition, he had toured Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and other states, and finally found prohibition was not feasible in Karnataka. Some of the states which had gone for prohibition had reverted, as it was impractical, he said.

“We generate a huge revenue of Rs 16,000 crore from excise sales, whereas Bihar earned only Rs 4,000 crore. It hardly matters for Bihar, but for Karnataka, it is a great loss. We cannot afford losing it,” Siddaramaiah said.

Asked whether he would initiate any action against Textile Minister Baburao Chinchansur, against whom a Lokayukta Court has ordered registration of an FIR over his disproportionate assets, the chief minister said he was not aware of the matter and that he would look into the order before taking any decision.