Liquor vends alongside national highways across the country may soon be a matter of the past, if states act on an advisory from the Centre not to permit any liquor shops along the highways.
The advisory, issued by roads secretary Vijay Chhibber, has requested the states to remove liquor shops along the national highways and ensure that no new licences are issued.
?Corrective actions may be taken on cases, where licences have already been given for liquor vendors along the national highways,? read the secretary?s letter to states.
STOCK MARKETS LINKS
* Best Performing Mutual Funds
This move by the ministry of road transport and highways is aimed at making roads safer by preventing people from drinking and driving. Estimates show that drunken driving was the reason for around 25,000 out of 4,90,000 road accidents in 2011. These 25,000 accidents led to around 11,000 deaths and 21,200 injuries.
A senior official explained that the ministry does not have any control over the issue, as granting licences for liquor vends and providing them land is a state subject. ?We can?t do anything about liquor vends along the national highways unless a legislation is passed that authorises us to do so. We have authority to take action only if these vends come on our right of way, which they do not. All we can do is issue advisories and request the states to follow it,? said the official.
He added that liquor vends along the highways creates two kinds of problems. ?Easy availability of liquor increases the chance of drunken driving and accidents. These vends also lead to huge pile up on national highways, as a large number of vehicles stop at the liquor shops on the highways,? said the official.
The official also explained that these states also have their own issues to handle. He added that there is also a financial angle to it. ?A number of states get a large part of their revenues from sale of liquor, especially for states with a large network of highways. These states would not like to compromise on the revenues on the sale of liquor.?
