Patna: Tipplers in Bihar may be in for a shock of their lives!

They may habitually trudge to their favourite liquor shops for a bottle of their drink but get a pouch of milk or a pack of lassi instead. The man at the counter may also be willing to provide ghee, paneer, peda or butter.

The Patna Dairy Project (PDP) has written to all 5,467 foreign liquor, country liquor and composite (foreign and country) shops across the state offering them dealership of Sudha Milk and milk products.

These licensed and privately owned liquor shops will close from April 1, the date when partial prohibition starts in the state. Foreign liquor shops will be limited only to urban areas and five tourist destinations, which are a part of the Buddhist circuit in the state, and will be operated by Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited.

“We have prepared a list of all liquor shop owners in the state and dispatched letters to them on the directions of the state government. We are offering them a chance to become retailers for our milk products, which are liked by people and held in high regard. The offer has been extended after many of the liquor retailers raised the issue of their livelihood before chief minister Nitish Kumar, who gave clear-cut directions to officials,” PDP managing director Sudhir Kumar Singh said.

Nitish had said at a function in New Delhi last December that liquor vends in the state would have the choice of selling products made by Sudha, which is the milk and milk product brand of the Bihar State Co-Operative Milk Producers’ Federation, The Telegraph reported.

The letter by PDP offers liquor retailers Rs 1.10 margin per litre of milk, while it will be 5 to 6 per cent on curd, peda, ghee, paneer and butter. If they are willing, they will have to enter into an agreement with PDP, which will be for a year and could be extended according to performance.

“The offer is for all shops, irrespective of foreign liquor, country liquor or composite ones, and irrespective of whether they are urban or rural. If a bunch of shops apply to us from an area where we are not present, then we will open a new route to supply products to them,” Sudhir added.

The PDP managing director said no deadline has been fixed, and he was expecting a rush of applications once all privately run alcohol vends close at the end of this financial year.

So far, a few liquor retailers from Patna, Vaishali and Saran districts have applied for registration.

Meanwhile, foreign liquor retailer associations have already rejected the proposal to convert to milk parlours.

Patna District Foreign Liquor Retailers’ Association president Nawal Kishore Singh said: “This move by the state government is not going to solve livelihood issues of us or our employees. We used to get 15 per cent margin on selling Indian Made Foreign Liquor and selling milk even in large quantity will not compensate for it. We used to employ four at our stores but we will not be able to do so at milk booths owing to lesser margin.”

Manjhi slur

Jitan Ram Manjhi on Saturday attacked Nitish Kumar over the prohibition policy and said he was fooling people on April Fools’ Day.