And now in ‘dry’ Bihar, AC hajat plus an array of facilities for ‘VIPs’ caught boozing

Excise Department opens AC hajat for VIP boozers held in Bihar, with the first such ‘VIP hajat’ inaugurated in Samastipur recently

By Dheeraj Sinha from Patna

VIP boozers in ‘dry’ Bihar need not cool their heels in dingy cells if they are caught boozing. The Excise Department has opened AC hajat (the dictionary defines hajat as a place of detention for prisoners pending trial) for them.

While the first ‘VIP hajat’ was inaugurated in Samastipur recently, the Excise Department plans to open such hajats in all other districts of the state.

VIP tipplers who get caught while boozing can enjoy facilities such as AC room, sofa, chair, table and other items until they are in the custody of the Excise Department for 24 hours.

Going the extra mile in providing maximum comforts to VIP boozers, the Excise Department has prepared hajat equipped with facilities that are generally available in a decent hotel.

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Also, if you are a people’s representative, a government servant, or if you belong to the elite society, you will be treated as a VIP and will be provided with the best possible hospitality at the hajat to suit your ‘status’.

In the VIP hajat, there will be two beds covered with branded bed sheets so that the VIP boozers do not have any grievance against the department.

The VIP hajat in Samastipur was inaugurated by Excise Superintendent SK Choudhary recently. The arrangements for VIPs have been made on the instruction of the headquarters, informed Choudhary. It’s considering the lifestyle of VIPs that the department is providing all these facilities to them in the hajat.

The Excise Department will not only be taking care of the VIP boozers but also of their safety, as trained dog will be deputed at the gate of the hajat. A cottage has been constructed near the gate for keeping the dog.

The Excise Department has also devised some innovative ways to dissuade people from consuming liquor. Posters with a message in Hindi, ‘Main Piyakkad Hoon’ (I am a drunkard) would be pasted on the houses of the nabbed boozers. The posters will display the full details of the arrested drunkards.

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Choudhary, meanwhile, said “these posters would embarrass the tipplers socially and will discourage others from consuming liquor”.

As per reports, more than three lakh people have been booked for drinking and many of them are behind the bars.

There has been a public outcry in Bihar over the alleged stringent provisions made in the state’s prohibition law. Now, the Bihar government seems to have provided some reprieve to boozers by making certain amendments to the law. It was decided that those caught drinking alcohol for the first time would be released after they pay a fine.

Main/featured picture from Pixabay has been used for illustrative purposes only.