Patna, April 28: The state government is strengthening its Excise Intelligence Bureau for stricter enforcement of prohibition.

The cabinet on Thursday approved the registration, excise and prohibition department's proposal to create new posts to strengthen the bureau, which has been mandated to conduct raids to nab those who defy the liquor ban.

"Altogether, 10 positions have been created, including one deputy excise commissioner (EIB), one assistant excise commissioner, two excise inspectors and five excise sub-inspectors," said cabinet secretariat department principal secretary Brajesh Mehrotra.

Excise department officials said the bureau always existed within the department but its focus before prohibition was to crack down on illicit brewing of country liquor as well as illegal trade in foreign liquor. With the blanket ban on alcohol, its emphasis has changed and it will be unleashed to crack down on those who flout the provisions of the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, 2016.

"The bureau's work has increased," said excise commissioner Kunwar Jung Bahadur. "The focus is how to prevent liquor consumption or bootlegging in the state, and it will now play an important role in enforcing prohibition by conducting raids."

Kunwar added that bureau teams are already present in the district levels and the new posts would strengthen it further. "The raids by the bureau would be aimed at stopping smuggling of liquor from across the borders, illicit brewing of liquor and consumption of alcoholic drinks. The teams would also gather intelligence about these. It will also work along the borders, check-posts and other routes to enforce prohibition," he added.

The cabinet meeting, chaired by chief minister Nitish Kumar, discussed 10 agenda, including hike of dearness allowance (DA) by 6 per cent for government employees and pensioners. It would be given with effect from January 1 this year. "Government employees and pensioners would now get 125 per cent DA. Earlier, they were getting 119 per cent DA. The cabinet decision will put a financial burden of Rs 842 crore on the state exchequer," Mehrotra said.

The cabinet approved the Bihar Disaster Risk Reduction Roadmap 2015-30, the final draft of which was submitted before it on Thursday.

It has fixed four targets to be achieved during this period, which include cutting down the loss of human lives in different natural disasters by 75 per cent till 2030 in comparison to the current baseline data, inducing substantial decrease in transportation related disasters like road, rail and boat accidents in comparison to present baseline statistics, 50 per cent reduction in disaster-affected people till 2030 and an equal reduction in financial losses due to disasters.

The roadmap is a brainchild of disaster management department principal secretary Vyasji, who had attended the world disaster risk reduction conference held at Sendai in Japan in March 2015.

The state roadmap is a result of various thematic sessions, deliberations with stakeholders and validation workshops on the drafts that emerged. Suggestions of different government departments were also incorporated.

Disaster management department officials said the roadmap has been divided into nine chapters and has 2020, 2025 and 2030 as important deadlines with relevant targets. It will also focus on developing resilient villages, cities, livelihoods, basic services and critical infrastructure to withstand disasters.

Emphasis will also be given on effecting behavioural changes among the people. A Roadmap Implementation Support Unit will be established to oversee proper and timely implementation of the roadmap.