Accusing the Rashtriya Janata Party regime of ``deliberate laxity'' in implementing the prohibition policy in Gujarat, Prohibition and Excise Minister Fakirbhai Vaghela told reporters here on Tuesday that the state government would restrict the movement of molasses to Daman and liquor inflow from that Union territory by maintaining a tight vigil at the border check-posts.

Claiming that the previous government had been very liberal in issuing liquor permits -- in 1997 the RJP allegedly issued 19,541 permits, which number had risen steeply since then -- Vaghela said that to remedy this, only an officer of the rank of superintendent of police in the prohibition and excise department would be authorised to issue liquor permits. Earlier, taluka level PSIs could issue such permits.

Moreover, the minister said, if doctors were to recommend consumption of alcohol on health grounds, they had to specify which variety was to be drunk by the permit-holder. The state government is also planning to set up special courts to try cases of violation of dry law in the State in view of the workload of other courts. Consultations with the legal department and the High Court were underway in this context, Vaghala said, adding that the prohibition and excise act would be amended to increase the magnitude of its penal provisions.

The government appreciated the fact that a staff shortage had crippled the prohibition and excise department, the minister said, adding that they were considering increasing its strength. Besides, he said, the government had issued circulars to the police department reminding it of its duty to enforce prohibition and register cases of its violation. Admitting that the prohibition department was going soft on the enforcement side, the minister said this was due to the liberal attitude of the RJP government. During their regime, he said, 13,224 cases of violation were registered between June 1997 and February 1998 and 17,436 people arrested and 569 vehicles seized during that period. These arrests had yielded contraband seizure worth Rs 5.69 crore, he said.

He said the RJP government had also done away with the escorts provided to trucks of a Bhambhor-based firm, Gurukrupa Poppies, which procured opium poppy (posh-doda) from Rajasthan.