Liquor will not be banned in Maharashtra, the state government has said after the issue of liquor smuggling and illegal brewing in the districts where prohibition is in place was raised in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Currently, production, sales and consumption of alcoholic substances in banned in three neighbouring districts of Vidarbha. Of these, Wardha is under prohibition as a mark of respect to Mahatma Gandhi, who had stayed in the district for a long while. Naxal-affected Gadchiroli was added to the list later, and the BJP government banned liquor in Chandrapur after coming to power in 2014, particularly because a local MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar, who heads finance and forest departments, had been demanding a ban in his home district.