Liquor ban will impact flow of revenue: Himachal CM

Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh),[India] Apr. 6 (ANI): With the Supreme Court banning the sale of liquor within 500 metres of National and State Highways, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Vibhadra Singh on Thursday said that this move would adversely impact the flow of revenue in the state. "Excise revenue is very important for the state. The government earns a lot of revenue from the liquor shops," he told the media here. Singh, however, suggested that the liquor shops should not be close to the educational institutions and near the places of worship. Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister denotified 16 State Highways to 'Major District Roads' to circumvent the Supreme Court's liquor ban order at the National and State Highways. Post the Supreme Court's order of banning sale of liquor within 500 metres of the National and State Highways, at least half-a-dozen states including Rajasthan and Punjab have scurried to the Centre with requests to get stretches of National Highways (NH) passing through their territories denotified as State Highways. The states have been approaching Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari because once a particular NH stretch is denotified, the states can bypass the apex court's order by declaring them either as urban or district roads. The apex court earlier on March 31 reserved its order on banning off liquor vends on the state and national highways. Hearing a batch of petitions seeking modification of its December 2016 order banning liquor outlets within 500 metres of state and national highways across the country, the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar reserved the order. Several states, including Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Telangana and Haryana and various others had told the apex court that 500-metre distance should be reduced. (ANI)