Liquor shops along highway to reopen

Mumbai: The liquor shops, permit rooms and beer bars along the highways, which were shut down few months ago after the Bombay high court order, will now be opened. The state government has relaxed the guidelines, under which more than 3,000 liquor shops are likely to be reopened. The state government’s revised guidelines have paved the way for banned shops to be opened again.

According to new norms, the liquor sale licences can be issued in villages having population of 3,000 instead of earlier norm of 5,000. In addition to this, liquor shops can also be opened minimum three kms away from municipal corporation boundary or one km from the municipal council or nagar Panchayat boundary. The licences can be renewed by charging fees for the last two years 2017-18 and 2018-19, said the state officials.

The change in guidelines is likely to help 1,500 permit rooms, 500 shops of country liquor and more than 1,000 beer shops.

The SC on December 16, 2015 had directed to ban sale of liquor within 500-metre radius of state and national highways. Following the verdict, the state government closed down the liquor shops along the highways from April 1, 2017.

The order resulted in the shutting of 60 per cent of the 25,173 shops and bars in the state. However, some of the affected liquor license holders moved to the court pleading to relax the norms.

According to officials, after the Supreme Court verdict several liquor shops and permit rooms had started running illegally. They can now be reopened by paying license fees.