Hit by the Supreme Court’s order banning sale of liquor along national and State highways, representatives of the hospitality industry said on Sunday that they will meet government officials to seek a way out. They, however, added that they won’t move court for at least a week.
Addressing a press conference at The Oberoi, president of the group, Kapil Chopra, said meetings were already fixed with several State and Central government officials and Ministers on Monday. He said they were looking for solutions without “disrespecting the spirit of the apex court judgment”, which was “against drunken driving”.
He said the industry had no plans to move court as of now since review petitions had been dismissed. “We aren’t considering this option for at least a week,” he said.
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Stating that the ban will result in loss of employment and revenue, Mr. Chopra said the industry had analysed the judgment and discussed the way out, but “there weren’t many answers”. He pointed out that the government also seemed concerned about the impact of the decision as was “apparent from the tweet by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on the extent of job loss”.
Concerted effort
Pointing out that accidents were reported even in States with complete liquor prohibition, Mr. Chopra suggested that the answer to the menace of drunken driving lay in “strict implementation of law as in other countries”.
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Manbeer Choudhary, the president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of India, said it was a “black day for the hotel industry” but that they were ready to face the situation. He said the industry would approach Chief Ministers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a solution.
Rahul Singh, the founder and CEO of The Beer Cafe at Cyber Hub, said the nature of consumption and business at bars and pubs was quite different from roadside vends.
Mr. Chopra argued that liquor vends could be relocated, but not complexes like Cyber Hub and big hotels.
Ankur Bhatia of the Bird Group said the decision would impact banquet halls along highways. “Many weddings happen along highways and people won’t be able to have liquor at weddings. Everybody will be impacted”.