Nagpur: Gandhian doctor couple Abhay and Rani Bang, spearheading the campaign for alcohol prohibition in the state,have in an open letter to the Maharashtra government emanded that the state be made liqour-free emulating Bihar and Kerala. BJP MLA from Katol, Ashish Deshmukh , has also made a similar demand in a separate letter to the chief minister on Friday. In their letter, Bangs pointed out that while the dry law was imposed in Wardha, Gadchiroli and Chandrapur, the state has been seen promoting drinking in other districts so that it does not lose revenue to the tune of Rs 11000 crore that excise and other taxes on alcohol fetch. “According to the Global Burden of Disease study liquor consumption has emerged as the fourth largest cause of human deaths in the world,” the Bangs stressed. Globally 33 lakh people die and 14 crore mandays are lost on account of alcohol abuse and in Maharashtra, liquor worth Rs 40,000 crore is consumed annually, they added. Fortunately, the current ruling parties do not have much interest in alcohol or sugar industry and it will be easy for them to impose total prohibition. Bangs have given the state one month to announce state-wide prohibition and its phased implementation in three years so that the entire state is alcohol free by 2019. “Kerala has started phasing out liquor trade and Bihar has decided to clamp it from April next. Maharashtra has to decide if it wants to follow Kerala and Bihar or veer towards Tamil Nadu which earns even higher revenue from liquor business. Reports from TN suggest that even school-going children are taking to drinking,” warned Bangs. Deshmukh, in his letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that growing addiction to alcohol was ruining lives of rural masses. “Whole family suffers if the bread earner falls prey to this vice. Now youth is getting into the habit as alcohol is freely available in state,” said Deshmukh. He added that total prohibition in the state would save society from death and destruction.