You’ve read it right. The government of Bihar has not only imposed a ban on liquor recently, it has also banned cooking on day times. Keeping in view, the number of fire accidents being reported due to fire, the government has issued such advisory. According to the advisory, people are not allowed to cook after 9 AM till it gets dark. Havan, the ritual fire is also not allowed to be lit during the restricted time. Anyone acting against such advisory might be charged under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. This act provides a jail term upto two years or a fine or both.

The government officials explains that the advisory is issued due to rising incidents of fire accidents that claimed atleast 30 lives last month. The loss to live stock and crop too was of course huge. However, the opposition feels that this advisory is ridiculous. They claim that the government should have taken enough steps to curb the incidents by allotting more fire tenders, rather than issuing such impractical advisories. A 25-year-old man from Chakiya village in Arwal district, has even hurled a slipper at Nitish Kumar in protest of this advisory. But the government seems to be determined to continue with the act.