This request emerged after a discussion held in Champhai today and the participants of the event voiced against the banning of Zawlaidi as many families have taken up grape cultivation as their permanent occupation under the guidance of state horticulture department.Those who attended the discussion included journalists, Nodal Officer C. Lalremsiama who also is Sub-Divisional Horticulture Officer, Rural Bank Branch Manager, Benjamin Lianzama and prominent persons. The discussion was presided over by the vice president of Champhai Grape Growers Society H. KL. Thanga.
Earlier, the sale of this locally brewed Zawlaidi, which literally means ‘love pot’ had faced lots of criticism from every quarter. One locality in Aizawl had even served a diktat to a retail vendor to move out of the locality if he wanted to continue his business.
The issue has also been raised by Evangelical Church of Maraland in Mara Autonomous District Council in southern Mizoram supported by other organisations to ban the sale of Zawlaidi in the district council area. The church and the voluntary organisations also asked the government to cancel the permits issued to the retail vendors for Saiha town.
The Mizoram government in 2007 made an amendment to the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, passed in 1997, to enable grape growers in Hnahlan and Champhai in northeastern parts of Mizoram to manufacture wine from their fruits of labour. Even as the grape growers have heaved a sigh of relief, the church organisations in Mizoram, who are behind the prohibition law, have expressed their resentment on the liberalisation of grape wine.