Alcohol not intoxicant: Punjab minister

Chandigarh: Punjab Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani, in a bizzare statement, said that he does not consider 'sharab' (booze) an intoxicant.

"I don't think 'sharab' (booze) is an intoxicant. You cannot call alcohol an intoxicant. It is (consumed) there in the army, parties.

"The government gives licences for manufacturing liquor, we auction liquor vends. As long as it is done, sharab cannot be called 'nasha' (intoxicant)," Jyani told journalists during an interaction after inaugurating a de-addiction centre in his constituency Badal.

Incidentally, Punjab has been facing a problem of drug addiction.