Bhubaneswar, Dec. 4: Hundreds of tribal people today take to the streets here demanding liquor prohibition in Odisha.

Citing the example of Bihar, they said Odisha must follow suit as liquor was ruining families.

The demonstrators came from Kandhamal. Many of them carried implements for making country liquor. "Don't make us victims of liquor. Families are destroyed when its earning members start drinking heavily. My husband used to beat me and my children every day after getting drunk. The government must put an end to the menace," said Malati Majhi of Daringbadi.

The Congress lent support to the agitation. "When Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar could take a bold decision and allow his state to forgo Rs 4,000 crore as revenue, why can't Odisha do it, especially when it has opportunities to make up for excise revenue loss through other sources," said Congress spokesperson Sulochana Das.

The demand by social activists to impose prohibition on liquor in Odisha became louder after the Bihar chief minister had announced his decision to make his state liquor-free from April 1 next year.

In another development, the organisers of today's demonstration have decided to motivate people to vote in the coming panchayat elections for candidates who stand for the prohibition. "We will boycott the parties that do not implement prohibition," said one of the organisers, Milan Kumar Pradhan.

It is highly unlikely that Odisha would impose ban on liquor. Official sources said that with Odisha's revenue receipts currently being low following a downturn in the mining sector and fall in central revenues, liquor ban at this stage could prove counter-productive so far finances were concerned. Odisha had earned around Rs 2,709 crore as revenue last year against Rs 2,286 crore in 2013-14.

Excise minister Damodor Rout today reiterated his position that he would not personally favour implementation of prohibition. "The chief minister should take a decision to this effect. A policy decision is needed." Rout also cited the example of Gujarat where more than 265 people had died last year following consumption of hooch that was rampant in that state which follows total prohibition.

Odisha, too, has experimented with prohibition. In 1956, the then chief minister, Nabakrushna Choudhury, had implemented a prohibition, but liquor ban was lifted by successive governments. Similarly, following the Cuttack hooch tragedy of 1992, the then chief minister, Biju Patnaik, had banned the same of country liquor. But this ban, too, was lifted by the following Congress government.

The BJP also held separate demonstration near the Assembly supporting the demand.