Gujarat rejects President advice, 2 bills cleared

The Gujarat Assembly passed the controversial anti-terror Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill for the second time, rejecting changes sought by the Centre after the Narendra Modi government re-introduced the same legislation on Tuesday, setting the stage for a fresh confrontation with the UPA government.

Ignoring suggestions by President Pratibha Patil to modify the GUJCOC Bill passed five years ago and still awaiting presidential assent, the House approved the unchanged bill unanimously with only ruling party members present.

The Opposition is boycotting the Assembly over the recent hooch tragedy.

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Prohibition: Modi plans death for death law

The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday night announced that if any person died due to the consumption of spurious liquor in Gujarat, those responsible, and those involved in manufacturing the illicit liquor, would face the death penalty.

The Modi government plans to do this by amending the existing prohibition laws. Though the state government has not officially clarified how it would go about doing this, a senior Modi aide said amendments will be made to the existing Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Act. He said the Gujarat Cabinet has already discussed the amendments and that the amendments would be introduced in the Gujarat Assembly by July 29.

Ironically, the Modi government had given its assent to the Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Bill of 2003 to relax rules related to the procurement of raw jaggery and ammonium chloride, the two main ingredients used to manufacture hooch in Gujarat.

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