Mahua is not just `kachchi sharaab` anymore, it`s `heritage liquor` in Madhya Pradesh now

The madhya Pradesh government has finalised a new excise policy under which `mahua` will be treated as `heritage liquor`.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday announced that a new excise policy will legalise liquor made out of mahua and it will be sold as "heritage liquor".

Speaking at Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas in Mandla on Monday, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "The government is devising an excise policy under which if anyone makes liquor made of Mahua in a traditional way, it will not be illegal anymore. It will be sold in the liquor shops with the name of Heritage liquor which would be a source of employment and income for the tribal people who have been making and consuming it."

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had initiated Tribal Pride Day celebrations in Bhopal on the birth anniversary of Lord Birsa Munda.

Congress has slammed the move of the state government and called it a moral decline of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Speaking to ANI, Congress spokesperson, KK Mishra said that it is unfortunate that the government is going to legalise 'kacchi sharab'.

"It is unfortunate that the government has taken the decision to legalise 'kacchi sharab' when more than 50 people have lost their lives after the consumption of spurious liquor. Despite this, the government is bringing such a policy," he said.