Review order on liquor sale on highways

It now appears that the Supreme Court ruling barring the sale of liquor within 500 metres of highways though wellintentioned was not well-thought-out. It has indeed opened up a Pandora’s Box with its crippling effect on government revenues and the scary fallout of throwing thousands out of jobs. Tourism will doubtlessly be badly hit by the measure. Estimates made by the government say that the states would lose a whopping Rs 50,000 crore in revenues that they would be forced to forego. Other rough calculations put the hospitality industry’s losses at Rs 15,000 crore and the loss of jobs at nearly a million people in an environment in which jobs are scarce anyway.

What is sad is that some states are working overtime to circumvent the apex court order to get over the financial fallout that it would entail. The avowed objective indeed was to discourage drunken driving but that could have been achieved through more potent and less damaging measures. But while those who are obsessed with the bottle would drive 500 metres to get to the liquor vends, the incidental effect of closing liquor shops on the highway would be on those who are victims by chance. Many states, notably Punjab, Maharashtra, Goa and UP are exploring the option of denotifying state highways within cities and towns and turning them into urban roads. Some are believed to have approached the Centre to ascertain if they can convert national highways into city roads. If the Supreme Court order were to be circumvented in this manner, it would set a bad precedent.

As chance would have it, in many states most hotel chains, pubs and bars fall within 500 metres of a state or national highway. They would be severely hit and consequently their tourist clients would shy away from these hotels. Amul, a bottled milk chain, has added a humourous touch to the whole issue by opening its arms to the bars to convert themselves into milk bars from the liquor bars that they were. The apex court indeed needs to look at its well-meaning intention from a different angle. It could well guide the governments to make drunken driving punishable with more punitive fines and perhaps imprisonment. Repeat offences could entail loss of license. All in all, a fresh look at the subject is called for.