As many as 40 liquor vends are set to face closure after the Supreme Court ordered closure of vends near national and state highways. The 40 liquor vends will cause a revenue loss of around Rs 36 crore to the administration. Following the decision of the Supreme Court that no vend will serve liquor within 500-meter radius of the state and national highways, 40 vends will have to close shop starting April 1.
A total of 113 such vends exist in Panchkula district and earn a total revenue of around Rs 120 crore. However, the district administration is conducting a fresh survey to check if any more vends fall under this category. In addition, four restaurants that serve liquor also fall under this category and will have to stop serving liquor.
The Deputy Commissioner, Gauri Parasher Joshi, informed that a survey to confirm these numbers is on. “We will also try and come up with alternatives for these vends and the survey will determine if they can be given land elsewhere”, she added.
Though the Punjab and Haryana High Court had also ordered against liquor vends along the national and state highways three years ago, the order did not include a specific distance. Parameters for measuring the distance are leading to ambiguity as some say that the distance will be measured through air, while others say it will be done according to the distance by road.