NT NeTWORK
PANAJI
Expressing disappointment over the Supreme Court order, the Goa Liquor Traders’ Association (GLTA) Friday said that the order of the apex court is harsh for the Goan liquor industry, and now their hope lies on Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to provide them relief from the liquor ban along state and national highways.
“We all have faith in Chief Minister Parrikar. We are expecting him to go to the Supreme Court with a review petition and he can get us out of this crisis on the lines of Sikkim and Meghalaya,” said GLTA president Dattaprasad Naik. He said that if the entire 500-metre criterion has been waived off for Meghalaya and Sikkim, then the same should be applicable to Goa as it is the smallest state and also a hilly region.
“Goa was cited along with Meghalaya and Sikkim as it is a small state but judges asked the counsels to argue only for their respective states. As Goa has not at all appealed against the ban order, we had no one representing us,” said Naik. He said that the Association members will meet Parrikar as soon as he arrives in the state on Saturday and put the demands of the Association
before him. Claiming that almost 3,210 licence holders, which include wine shops owners and bar and restaurant owners are losing business in Goa due to this order, Naik blamed the timing of the Goa election and the code of conduct, which clashed with the dates of the Supreme Court order.
“Goa Election and code of conduct have proven to be costly for the liquor industry in Goa.
The code of conduct came into force on January 4, the order was out on December 15 but the judgment copy was not available till December 26. So the previous government could not do much in this matter,” he said.
Naik slammed the excise department for conducting the survey on liquor establishments in a wrong manner. “The Supreme Court order states that no shops for sale of liquor shall be visible from national or state highway and when it says visibility, they have not mentioned any distance criteria. It also says that the outlets should not be directly accessible from national and state highway and situated within a distance of 500 metres. When word accessible is used, then you cannot fly over mountains where there is no road or you cannot cross a river where there is no bridge. Excise department measured it like how a crow flies,” said Naik.
He said that the Acts which prohibit liquor establishments within a radius of 100 metres from educational institutions, places of worship, harijan basti and a labour society colony were taken into consideration for the Supreme Court ban pertaining to highways.
“The court judgment on highways does not say measure the distance by radius and even the excise Acts do not say measure by radius. It only mentions about radius in case of educational institutions and places of worship, it has nothing to do with state and national highways,” added Naik. He said that the Association is waiting for the excise department’s plan of action and accordingly the Association will take steps to find a way out of this crisis.