Roadhouse blues: The SC way or the high'way

Out of the five-lakh deaths caused by road accidents in India each year, drunken driving is responsible for a mere 3.3% of this number. The Supreme Court banning liquor vends along highways will destroy the livelihood of lakhs of people and incur serious losses to the state. Experts feel that stricter enforcement of drunken driving laws would have been a better way to curb the menace and point out that more hospitals along highways will go a long way in bringing down the number of fatalities, report Bala Chauhan and Ranjani Madhavan

Travelling long distance by road is not everyone's cup of tea. But those who do attempt it, sometimes try to break the monotony  by 'having one for the road' at a roadside hotel, before continuing the journey.  This luxury may, however, have just been placed out of their reach as the  Supreme Court has banned  vendors, hotels and restaurants within 500 meters of both the national and state highways from serving liquor in the interest of safe driving. It has expectedly been met with protest by hoteliers, who believe it is shortsighted and will cost in terms of both jobs and revenue.  

"Many of our customers celebrate weddings, parties and birthdays at the hotel and expect alcohol to be served. We also serve liquor to foreign tourists. This revenue is important. But now tourism will be affected by this ban," regrets Mr. Raj, manager of Royal Orchid Hotels. Noting that 80 per cent of the revenue of highway hotels is from the sale of liquor, he believes the ban will  impact business badly.

“Also, the state and Union governments earn revenue from liquor. And what about those who will lose their jobs?" he asks.

Arguing on similar lines,  Mr M.S Subramanya Holla, secretary of the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotel Assosciation, warns the ruling could see 30  to 40 per cent of hotels and bars shut shop.

" We are the IT hub, and techies living or working on the outskirts of the city are bound to crib about the ban.  And what about those who come from Kerala to Karnataka because of the easy availability of liquor here?  Everything will be affected. Business,  jobs, tourism and even the government's excise revenue,” he says.

Pointing out that truck drivers, who generally drink on highways, and are usually responsible for  accidents,  choose to go to small cheap wine shops and don’t  frequent big hotels or restaurants, he argues that while these small shops can easily shift a few 100 meters away and continue their business, the bigger establishments will suffer as they cannot afford to do the same.

To Mr N Vasudevan, president of the Hotel Employees Federation of India , the ruling appears “ emotional.”  “It is will affect workers in a big way. People can drive  600 metres away and drink, but hundreds of migrant workers will be thrown out of their jobs. Drunk driving is not a small issue,  but this ban is not the way to deal with it," he insists.

Ban will destroy livelihood of thousands in these areas
The Karnataka government plans to implement the Supreme Court order of March 31 banning of liquor vendors along national and state highways, according to sources in the secretariat.. “Chief Minister Siddramaiah will honour the apex court ruling as he does not want to be seen as a law breaker,” explained an officer.

While it was suggested that the government should denotify  state highways to turn them into merely urban roads to accommodate the affected excise licencees in the 500 meter zone of the highways, the Chief Minister was reportedly not keen on the idea as the government could then be accused of trying to circumvent the court’s ruling.

The financial repercussions of the order are however, still being examined and  the Excise Department is conducting a survey to establish the exact number of licencees, which will be affected by the modified court order that has reduced the distance for  application of the ban  from 500 meters to 220 meters from the highways in areas with a population of upto 20,000. It will remain 500 meters for the others. The department will submit the final figures to the government on April 5, according to sources. “We will act as ordered to by the government,” said a senior excise officer.

Going by present estimates as many as 6,081 of the 10,091 excise licencees in the state - 900 from Bengaluru alone - could be adversely impacted. And the Excise Department,which is the single largest contributor to the state revenue, may have to scale down its target of Rs 18,050 crore for the financial year 2017-18 once the ban is enforced, according to sources.

Also, the existing liquor licences in Karnataka will be valid till June 30 and  be given an extension of three months,  till the end of September, to relocate outside the highway zones to be considered for renewal.

“The ban will not only dent the state’s revenue but also destroy the livelihood of lakhs of people in Karnataka, who own and work in these places. Relocation  is completely ruled out for many of the affected because of factors like cost, availability of a suitable alternative retail outlet and infrastructure,” warned a spokesperson of the Karnataka Wine Merchants Association.

While several state and national highways cross and touch several cities, towns and municipalities in Karnataka, two national highways, NH4 and NH-7,  run through Bengaluru and many of its watering holes will have to go dry in compliance with the apex court ruling. “NH4 runs through the city between Tumakuru Road and Old Madras Road and so does NH7, which touches MG Road and Hosur Road on its Hyderabad - Bengaluru stretch,” pointed out Mr Ashish Kothare, president of the Association of Bars and Restaurant, Pubs and Hotels, Bengaluru.

Excise licencees & affected
West 911 – 157
East 643 – 191
North 655 - 252
South 887 – 300

Speeding, overloaded trucks main causes of highway deaths: Riyaaz Amlani, President of National Restaurant Association of India
To say that drunk driving is the cause of all road accidents is quite irrational.  In India of the five lakh accidents reported in a year , one- and- a- half lakh result in death.  Of these only 3.3  per cent  are caused by drunk driving.  As many as 28,000 deaths are caused by overloaded trucks and 68,000  due to speeding. Instead of tackling these major causes first, we are attacking the smaller. In the process, one million jobs will be lost and the loss to the  state will be around Rs 65,000 crore. This is definitely not a good thing. We must remember that Gujarat, which has the 10th highest number of road accidents, doesn’t even serve liquor.

The major point we are all missing is that the Supreme Court says liquor shops are banned and not bars and restaurants near the  highways. There is a big difference between serving liquor in restaurants and selling it in a shop over the counter. But all state governments are misinterpreting the ruling . Why they are doing this is something only they can answer. Instead of concentrating on tackling speeding and overloaded trucks, they  are cancelling liquor licenses, leading to major loss of revenue and employment. In my view, the solution is to have stricter enforcement of drunken driving laws.

Strangely, although 80 per cent  of road accidents are beyond city limits, in rural areas, there are few trauma centres in these parts. This despite the fact that 95  per cent of accident victims can be saved if they reach trauma centres within the first golden hour.

This ruling also sends a very negative signal to tourists. When people stay over in hotels, they like having alcohol. When we issue e-visas to 148 countries, but don't serve tourists alcohol, they will be discouraged from visiting us. Even today tourism numbers are dismal in India. Only eight million people visit it in a year and  of them many are from Nepal and Bangladesh. Compare this to the Dubai Mall, which sees 100 million people annually.

Moreover, how can hotels, which have invested in infrastructure, relocate? Hotels and bars must get their licenses back, or they will shut shop. What we need is technology to combat road accidents. After all, this is done in many countries, which use speed radars  to curb speeding.