The the sale of the locally produced wine has been banned in one of the locality in Aizawl after it was opposed by a committee comprising of different NGOs and the Church.
The joint action committee has served a diktat to a retail vendor in Bawngkawn locality, one of the ten licensed vendors in Aizawl, to move out of the locality if he wanted to continue his business.
In a 'cleanliness drive', the joint action committee has literally cleansed Bawngkawn, which used to be a hub for drug peddlers and bootleggers in the past, of all such social evils.
Zawlaidi contains 14 per cent alcohol, it comes as a perfect substitute to liquor which is totally prohibited in the Christian dominated state since the past 13 years.
Meanwhile, the same issue has been raised by Evangelical Church of Maraland in Mara Autonomous District Council in southern Mizoram supported by other organisations to ban the sale of Zawlaidi in the district council.
A decision to this effect was taken in the recent joint meeting held in Saiha.
A joint memorandum is being submitted to the Chief Executive Member of Mara Autonomous District Council, S.Khipo to request him to take necessary actions in this regard.
The Church and the voluntary organisations also asked the government to cancel the license issued to the retail vendor for Saiha town.
The Mizoram government in 2007 made an amendment of the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, passed in 1997, to enable grape growers in Hnahlan and Champhai in northeastern parts of Mizoram to manufacture wine from their fruits of labour.
Even as the grape growers have heaved a sigh of relief , the churches in Mizoram, who were behind the prohibition law, have expressed their resentment on the liberalisation of grape wine.
In Hnahlan village 80 per cent of the total population of 670 families, has been engaged in producing grapes and 325 families in Champhai area.