Patna, Jan 29 (IANS): Bihar Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary has clarified that the department has only appealed to the government teachers to keep an eye on the consumption of liquor in the state. It was just an advisory.

"We have not given any target to teachers or they are not under any pressure to pass the information to authority about liquor consumption. We have just appealed to them to inform us if they see any mischief in their respective jurisdictions. They do not require additional duty to monitor liquor consumption," Chaudhary said.

"We have appealed to every person in the state to inform us if they find people are consuming liquor. Teachers are also included in it. It is the duty of every person to make liquor ban successful in the state but there is no pressure on them," Chaudhary said.

Earlier on Friday, Sanjay Kumar, the additional chief secretary of the education department of Bihar government, had written a letter dated January 28, 2022 to deputy directors of all zones, district education officers, and district education officers of primary, middle and higher secondary schools of Bihar to keep vigil on liquor consumption in their respective areas.

He had directed the officers to further communicate to principals, teachers, contract teachers and teachers of Madarsa and ask them to collect information about consumption of liquor, manufacturing units, smuggling, transportation and other activities of mafias in their respective jurisdictions and inform on toll free numbers of the liquor prohibition department.

Following the decision, teachers associations of Bihar threatened agitation. Some groups have already started protests. On Saturday, they burnt the copy of the directive issued by the education department at several places of Bihar.

They demanded from the state government to remove the burden of non academic works from teachers. Unarmed teachers and their families cannot fight with liquor mafias of the state.