July 1 ban: Excise officials take up ground-level survey

No clarity yet on whether city roads are national highways

The licences of liquor vending establishments found less than 500 metres from a national highway will not be renewed, say excise officials.

Bengaluru

Days ahead of the July 1 ban on sale of liquor in outlets less than 500 metres from a highway, excise officials have begun a ground-level survey to identify such establishments.

Excise officials told The Hindu on Tuesday that though they have a rough estimate of such establishments, a ground-level survey will give them the exact picture. “We have begun the exercise measuring the distance from the liquor vending establishment to the national highways. Once we identify such establishments, we will ensure that the liquor licences are not renewed,” an official said and added that the liquor licences expire on June 30.

F.S. Chalavadi, Excise Deputy Commissioner (South), said that over 180 liquor vending outlets have been identified of being less than 500 metres from the highway in his jurisdiction. Of these, around 20 are in Koramangala.

“Since there is no clarity on whether the stretch between GPO Junction and Silk Board has been denotified as a national highway, these establishments, including 20 in Koramangala, cannot serve liquor from July 1,” he said.

G. Honnagiri Gowda, president of Karnataka Wine Merchants’ Association, said there has been no communication from the excise department since the notice sent after the Supreme Court order in April. “We still have no clarity on what is a state highway and national highway. In this confusion, excise officials harass us by not even taking applications for transfer licence to relocate,” he said.

Meanwhile, with confusion still prevailing, none of the agencies involved – National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) or Karnataka State Public Works Department (PWD) are clear of the status of city roads and are non-committal.

A senior NHAI official said that the Authority has handed over parts of the highway coming within the city limits to the urban local body between late 1970s and 1990s for upkeep and maintenance. However, no clear records seem to be available of this with either NHAI or BBMP, leading to the confusion today, an official said.

This has put a question mark over the status of the urban roads within the city limits. NHAI officials said that the fact that the roads have been taken out of NHAI limits doesn't imply that these stretches are not national highways.

The BBMP, which has the custody of these stretches, is also not clear whether they are denotified as national highways. “BBMP has been maintaining these roads for decades and has received no refund from union government for their maintenance, even when sought. These have been urban roads and we are now digging out old records to ascertain whether they have been denotified,” said B.S. Prahallad, chief engineer, major roads, BBMP.

Readers’ responses

@hal3rdstagerwa: This rule should be strictly imposed on court orders. Without any bias or vested interests. Hopeful to see results soon.

@DhananjaySpeaks: Absolutely NO RENEWAL. In fact, K'taka must go for complete ALCOHOL BAN.

Indiranagar 1st Stage RWA: If Old Madras Road is National Highway 4, connecting Mumbai and Chennai, a couple of bars and pubs on 100ft Road, Indiranagar, will have to stop serving liquor. These outlets are exactly 500 metres from Old Madras Road.

While conducting the ground-level survey, the excise officials should verify the violation of rule 3(9)(b) of Karnataka Excise (Sale of Indian and Foreign Liquor) rules, 1968, which prohibits grant of bar licences in predominantly residential areas. As the BBMP's Revised Master Plan 2015, Indiranagar has been designated as predominantly residential with 52% of the area being demarcated as residential (main and mixed). The residential zone is five times larger than the commercial zone. That apart, none of the microbreweries have adequate parking, which is in violation of rule 27A of the Karnataka Excise (Brewery) Rules. The vehicles of their (microbreweries') patrons are parked in the residential bye-lanes. Numerous bars and pubs are operating within 100 metres of places of worship, schools and hospitals, which too is prohibited.

Numerous bars and pubs share the same CL-9 licence with multiple points of billing and dispensing. The excise department must conduct a thorough investigation and review all the CL-9 licences issued in the Indiranagar area and immediately cancel/ withdraw those that have been issued in contravention of law and natural justice.