For tipplers, it’s cheers again in Mahe

Puducherry govt issues order allowing reopening of closed outlets

Mahe is all set to be a haven for tipplers in the region again in the wake of an order issued by the Puducherry Excise Commissioner on Tuesday allowing the reopening of liquor shops and bars closed in compliance with a Supreme Court order in December banning liquor outlets along highways.

Within hours after the Excise Commissioner’s order reached the office of the Regional Administrator of Mahe in the afternoon, some of the closed liquor outlets and bars in Mahe were reopened. By evening nearly all of them resumed their business after five months. The owners of bars and liquor shops at this erstwhile French enclave had been anticipating the government order permitting them to resume their business.

“Just now we have received the order from the Excise Commissioner,” Regional Administrator S. Manickadeepan said when contacted by

The Hindu in the afternoon. He said he would be issuing a follow-up order in Mahe soon permitting the reopening of the outlets.

Mahe had been a destination of tipplers till the closure of 32 liquor outlets and bars along the National Highway passing through the municipal area following the apex court’s order in December.

The main attraction for tipplers is that liquor is cheap in Mahe. The Puducherry government’s order followed the Supreme Court’s clarification last month that the liquor ban on bars and retail liquor outlets located along the highways is not applicable to those within the municipal area.

“As many as 32 liquor shops and bars out of 60 in Mahe area have remained closed for over five months,” said C. Ashok Kumar, legal adviser to the Mahe Liquor Merchants’ Association (MLMA).

Two of them have since been shifted to Karaikal, another outlying territory of Puducherry, and four others were being shifted to elsewhere in Mahe, he said adding that the remaining 26 would be reopened on Tuesday evening and on September 13.