NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Commissioner of Excise for Goa has stated that the department will implement the Supreme Court order to shut down bars and liquor outlets within 500-metre radius of the state and national highways.
Speaking to this daily, Excise Commissioner Menino D’Souza stated that the department is gathering data on the number of liquor bars and outlets along the state and national highways.
“We are studying the Supreme Court judgment. Meanwhile, as the order stands, I have asked my officers to generate the data of all bars and outlets within the radius of 500 metres along the state highways and national highways,” he said.
D’Souza further said that the Supreme Court order is binding on all in the country and, therefore, the department cannot take an exceptional stand. “It is a Supreme Court order and we all have to follow and execute it. I’m aware that bar owners and liquor outlet owners have been claiming that they have not been taken into consideration while passing the order. But that is for the Supreme Court to decide. We have to execute the order,” he said.
Stating that the department will abide by the order and not renew any licences of bars and outlets, he said, “The order says that licences of such outlets cannot be renewed from the next year and we will abide by the judgment. Once all the data is gathered, we will issue notices to all of them.”
Currently, revenue from alcohol outlets adds about Rs 315 crore annually to the state’s exchequer. An estimated 60 per cent of the bars and liquor outlets in Goa are within the 500-metre radius of the state or national highways. The liquor outlets include bars, bar and restaurants and liquor retail and wholesale outlets.