Karnataka excise officials exploring ways to help affected liquor vendors

Bengaluru: The state government will not denotify its state highways to accommodate the affected liquor retailers, who would lose their livelihood after September 30, 2017 if they failed to shift from the prohibitory zone of 500 metres from the highways, said sources in the Secretariat.

According to market sources, 70 per cent of the liquor industry in Karnataka will be adversely impacted by the highway liquor ban.

While the message is loud and clear that the Siddaramaiah government will not circumvent the law, the state administration is looking at various options to help the 6,500 excise licensees, who will be adversely impacted by the order. In all, there are 10,091 Excise licencees in the state.

“Of the 6,500 licensees, 2,000 have vends on the state highways and 4,500 are located on the national highways. On Wednesday, the deputy commissioners of excise will submit the actual number of affected licensees in the wake of the March 31 order, which has reduced the distance between the bar and highway to 220 metres for places with population up to 20,000. Some of them will be off the affected list,” said an official source.

The licensees have the option of shifting their business from the highways to other locations and they need not shut their shops. “The Excise Department is looking at various options, which can be worked out within the framework of the apex court order. We are discussing the options with the government,” he added.

Meanwhile, former chief secretary Kaushik Mukherjee said that the government cannot denotify the state highways to accommodate the court order. “What will they write in the preamble of the denotification order? They will have to give a cogent reason and would not want to be seen as circumventing the law,” said the former top bureaucrat.