After SC Ban, Booze Is Back With Vengeance, 70% Highways Have Liquor Shops, Punjab Shows The Way
In the past year, almost 70% of the national and state highways across the country have been exempted from the Supreme Court¡¯s order banning liquor shops within 500 metres of the stretches. If anything, the shops have returned with a vengeance, according to road safety activist Harman Sidhu, whose PIL led to the highway liquor ban.
¡°I am even more disappointed that Chandigarh, my home, took the lead in these exemptions,¡± says Sidhu who started NGO Arrive Safe more than 20 years ago after a road accident in the Morni Hills left him paralysed from the waist down.
"It is unfortunate that Chandigarh showed the country how the order can be circumvented and defeated," Sidhu added.
ALSO READ: Booze To Return To City Bars As SC Clarifies That Highway Liquor Ban Does Not Apply For Cities
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He adds, ¡°Under the present scheme of things, most highways either come under municipal corporations, municipal councils or gram panchayats, which have been given exemption. The result is that liquor vends have mushroomed more than ever before on them. I wonder where the Supreme Court order is actually being implemented today.¡±
The Supreme Court had on March 31 ordered liquor vends within 500 metres of national and state highways to shut down from April 1. The top court had later clarified its stand and said that the restriction would not apply to highways within city limits.
Some of the biggest hotels and pubs in Chandigarh were on arterial roads that had been defined as highways for technical reasons, forcing many of the most popular watering holes of the city to shut shop for months. Even five star hotels in the heart of the city were forced to go dry.
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Today, Chandigarh has not only eased the restriction on most stretches, but the new excise policy allows wine and beer to be sold from petrol pumps. ¡°It is as if they are promoting drunken driving,¡± an angry Sidhu says.
ALSO READ: Cheers For Highway Liquor Ban As Drunk-Driving Cases Come Down By 40 Per Cent
When Sidhu had first moved the Punjab and Haryana high court in 2012 for the highway liquor ban, he had a simple objective ¨C that people should not die on the roads because of drunken driving. ¡°I wanted that there should be no availability of liquor on highways and this happened with the court order. But it was followed by a series of denotifications and change of nomenclature of roads. The liquor lobby convinced politicians to find a way around the ban. Different state governments have done everything to circumvent the court order.¡±
He is now pinning his hopes on the Punjab and Haryana high court which has directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) not to allow any liquor vend to open along highways without its permission.
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NHAI officials too feel that liquor vends have reopened and seem to be in larger numbers. VK Sharma project director for NHAI at Ambala said, "I have written a letter to the government officials on the issue. After following the right procedure, we would deny access to liquor vends on highways if rules are not followed. We will go as per the high court orders."
ALSO READ: Man Whose PIL Led To Highway Liquor Ban Sad Now That His Favourite Chandigarh Bar Has Gone Dry
Chandigarh A Cobweb Of Highways, Thanks To Jugaad
Sidhu adds that Chandigarh virtually led the movement to exempt city roads from the Supreme Court order because it had done something rather silly. ¡°This city of 10 lakh population had nearly 20 highways running through it,¡± he says. ¡°This would normally make no sense but it happened because the city administration had adopted policy of convenience where it designated city roads as highways when it wanted money from the central government to repair roads,¡± the activist says. ¡°When they wanted to earn revenue from liquor they changed the nomenclature back to city roads. This became a precedent for other states to follow. You expect such ¡®jugaad¡¯ from businessmen, not the government.¡±
Sidhu also questions the Union Territory administration¡¯s decision to allow petrol pumps to sell wine and imported beer on their premises till 1 am. ¡°Where is there a need for this?¡± he wonders. ¡°Already, every sector in the city has a liquor vend besides a number of hotels, bars and breweries.¡±
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Year After Threats, No FIR
The activist says his attempt at making highways free of liquor vends has not gone down well with many people. He claims to have got threat calls and letters. Some goons had apparently also pelted stones at his home and fired in the air after the Supreme Court order had come.
¡°Despite all this, the Chandigarh police hasn¡¯t yet filed an FIR in these cases,¡± he alleged. ¡°They have not investigated the cases seriously.¡± In fact, I have just got information under the RTI Act that his matter is pending and the forensic lab report is awaited to find out if someone had fired at my house or not. The report may come in the next 10 years,¡± he says sarcastically.
Despite all the hurdles he has faced, Sidhu insists that he will keep fighting this battle until the roads of the country have become safer.
Sidhu Moves HC, Says Vends Not Seeking Nhai Nod
In the latest development, the Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday issued notices to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Haryana and Punjab on a plea filed by filed by local NGO, Arrive Safe through its president Harman Sidhu.
He has moved the high court against non-compliance of its directions that the NHAI should not to allow any liquor vend to open along highways without its permission.
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In its March 27, 2018 order, the high court had clarified that no liquor vends, even those within MC area but beyond the town, shall be allowed to operate without access permission from the NHAI.
The high court had ordered that as per the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002, it would be essential that permission for occupying lands which fall outside municipal limits of towns, cities and villages but fall on the highway is sought from the NHAI administration.
¡°It shall be for the highway administration to examine individual cases and determine the proximity of the location of the liquor vend to the towns, cities and villages on the highways within the municipal areas keeping in view the safety and convenience of traffic in terms of the provisions of the 2002 Act,¡± the high court had ruled.
Sidhu told the high court to check the compliance of its March 27 order, he had visited many places and was disturbed to see the directions given in the judgment have not been followed.
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In support of his petition, he also attached several photographs he had clicked where liquor vends were operating in complete violation of the high court order. His main argument was that these vends were operating without any permission from the NHAI.
The petitioner had submitted a specific complaint on April 17 on the issue to the NHAI against violation of high court order, but got no reply. The next hearing of the case is on Tuesday.
