MARGAO
With the NH-17 cutting right through the town, the axe has fallen on almost all the bars and wholesale liquor joints in the Cuncolim market. Not a single liquor outlet will be left open in the market area and the adjoining areas, with the 500-metre distance from the highway covering almost all the bars and wholesale shops in the town. The nearest place where one can find a bar or a wholesale shop open is the area around the Cuncolim Industrial Estate.
Salcete Excise Inspector, Chandranath Desai, who stationed himself at Cuncolim with his team, told The Goan late Saturday evening that almost all the bars and wholesale liquor shops falling within the 500 metre distance from the National highway have been shut down on Day one of the exercise. “Initially, the outlet owners were questioning about the closure of the shops without offering them adequate time, but they later relented and shut down the shutters,” Desai said.
The Excise official, who returned to Margao in the evening, said that almost all the 50-odd liquor outlets in Cuncolim remained shut as per the Supreme Court order. “We are monitoring the situation. Though the Excise team could not serve the Supreme Court orders on the outlets, the owners agreed to pull down their shutters,” the Excise inspector stated.
