Vile Parle resident Apurva Shah, whose society abuts the Western Express Highway, reached home from work around 8 pm Saturday and dialled the neighbourhood wine shop, only to find it had shut indefinitely. "I drink only on weekends and hate stepping out of the home because I have to wait for up to 45 minutes to get a table at restaurants and permit rooms in my area. I decided to go to bed early," Shah, a commodity broker, said.
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Around 500 eateries and permit rooms in Mumbai alone suffered huge losses - Rs 50,000 a day on an average according to the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHAR) - even as more than 70 wine and beer shops shut down as the Supreme Court ban on alcohol availability within 500 metres of the national and state highways came into effect on April 1. The state is staring at an annual loss of Rs 7,000 crore because of the ban, and at least four five-star hotels on the Western Express Highway have been affected.
ALSO READ:?Supreme Court Ban On Liquor Sale Near National Highways Does Not Apply To Bars And Pubs
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Confusion raged on over the weekend as the wine shop and permit room owners affected by the SC ruling tried convincing the Excise Department officials that their establishments didn't come under the 500 mt directive, even as bureaucrats said the state government's idea of de-notifying the highways was not easy to implement.
Rajiv Singh, chief general manager of the National Highways Authority of India, which maintains all national highways, told Mumbai Mirror on Sunday, "There is no question of denotifying any national highway."
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In the case of the Western Express Highway, where maximum permit rooms and wine shops in the city are affected by the SC order, the stretch from Bandra to Dahisar checkpoint is maintained by the state Public Works Department (PWD), which itself is not sure whether any de-notification was possible. PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil said the department will not de-notify highways it maintains "suo motu".
"There is a demand to de-notify a couple of national highways but we will not do suo motu. In case, an urban local body want to de-notify the highways, it should come up with a proposal and also maintain the highway as per the NHAI standards. The big question is whether urban local bodies can maintain the highways," Patil said. A top BMC official also told Mirror on Sunday that there was "no question of taking over such additional responsibilities".
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Most wine shop owners said they were bracing up for the worst, and warned that their loss of business will result in thousands of people losing their jobs. Manish Kawade, whose wine shop in Chembur was shut by the Excise Department on Saturday, said, "In December 2016 when the Supreme Court verdict came in, the Wine Merchants Association had filed an appeal hoping for relief. I don't even know whether the Eastern Express Highway is considered a state or a national highway," he said, adding that he has asked his 12 employees to not report to work.
Mandar Sawant, who runs Sushmita Wines near the Western Express Highway in Borivali, said it was "almost impossible" to relocate his shop in Mumbai. "First I have to find a buyer for my shop, then look for another shop. Also, liquor has such negative connotation that getting NOCs from housing societies is a headache," he said.
ALSO READ:?Man Whose PIL Led To Highway Liquor Ban Sad Now That His Favourite Chandigarh Bar Has Gone Dry
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Among Sawant's regular customers for several years is Borivali resident Chandrakant Limbe, who reported that waiters from a permit room nearby were forced to return to their hometown in Karnataka as the owner had sacked them.
"Each wine shops means an investment of at least Rs 3 crore including the real estate value, the liquor stock of 30 to 50 days, the employees..." said Dilip Giyanani of the Maharashtra Wine Merchants Association.
ALSO READ: Karnataka Is Waging Legal Battle With Supreme Court To Keep Liquor Shops On Its Highways
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"There are 10,000 hotels and restaurants across Maharashtra that have stopped serving liquor," said Adarsh Shetty of AHAR. "The impact was even higher in Pune and Nashik," he added. Meanwhile, Ashok Kunder, president of the BrihanMumbai Daru Vikreta Sangh which represents country liquor shops in the city, feared that spurious liquor dens will flourish in areas where government-approved country liquor shops were shut due to the ban.