Patna: Haryana has burnt its fingers trying to impose prohibition so it will not enforce a dry law a la Bihar, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Sunday.

"There is a saying: doodh ka jala, chhachh bhi phoonk phoonk kar peeta hai (roughly: once bitten, twice shy). Once prohibition was implemented in Haryana and we have learnt our lesson from it," Khattar said. He pointed out that liquor was banned in his state in 1996 when Bansi Lal was the chief minister, but it did not succeed.

"That government (of Bansi Lal) was elected over its promise to implement total prohibition, but the way things shaped up and the side-effects emerged, the same liquor ban became the reason behind its demise in around two-and-a-half years," Khattar added.

He was speaking at the Pravasi Haryana Sammelan, a conference of people with roots in that state, organised in Patna by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

However, the Haryana CM said his government has decided not to open liquor shops in panchayats that request so before December 31.

He also claimed that the state has improved its sex ratio - its bane in many ways - from 840 around 10 years ago to 937 in February 2017. The government, he said, is also going to open women's colleges in every 20km.