Mumbai, Jun 24: The Maharashtra state government cleared that the new drinking law that raises the age of consuming alcohol won't be withdrawn. Social Justice minister Shivajirao Moghe said, “The argument that 18 is the age when people are allowed to vote and so they should be allowed to drink too is not justified. Maturity comes at 25 when an individual can take informed decisions. There is no reason to withdraw the decision."

According to the law, the age for drinking beer was increased from 18 to 21 and for consuming hard liquor from 21 to 25. Moghe claimed that no religion supports alcohol consumption. He also said that banning it altogether could not be a solution to curb alcohol consumption.

“In places such as Wardha, the consumption of alcohol is banned. But it has not helped. Instead it has given rise to blackmarketing, which is worse," he said.

The social justice department is celebrating the de-addiction day on June 26 and Moghe announced the launch of a special de-addiction project at Pune on the same day.

He added that the idea was to collect data on the number of people who had been cured of addiction and been rehabilitated and to get them to train with corporates and get jobs.

OneIndia News