Bengaluru: In Bengaluru city, at least 1,500 liquor shops, wine stores, bar and restaurants which are within the 500-meter radius of national, state highways will be shut down in next one week to comply with the Supreme Court directions.
According to the sources in the state excise department, July 1 is the last date to comply with the Supreme Court direction issued on December 16, 2016 which has banned sale of liquor in shops within 500 meters of highways. As per the directions, the excise department has issued a final notice to around 1,500 liquor shops/ wine stores and bar and restaurants in Bengaluru city.
The state government had appealed to the Union Ministry of Surface Transport to denotify major national highways in the city to bring down the number of shops as the closure would bring in huge numbers of job loss. It is expected that over 10,000 people would be rendered unemployed following the implementation of the directions.
But, the ministry declined to denotify the national highways.
