PANAJI
In an urgent press conference called by Goa Liquor Traders Association, the message was loud and clear that the State government should challenge the Supreme Court order banning sale of alcohol along national and State highways in the country from April 1.
This demand was raised by one and all, including the president of association Dattaprasad Naik and the advocate representing them Amit Palekar.
Palekar said, “Liquor is a state matter. Given this, the SC should have given a chance to each and every State government to present their case, which did not happen. This means that there was a breach of basic principle of natural justice. Therefore, if Goa government pleads, the SC will have to reconsider the order.”
But, the situation for Goa is precarious, as the assembly elections have just happened and new government is unlikely to be in place before mid-March. The SC has given a deadline of March 31 to implement the order, meaning the new State government will have only about two weeks to challenge this monumental order.
Meanwhile, the SC order has made a lot of people in liquor trade jittery, as it is applicable to anyone in any kind of liquor trade within highways and also within 500 meters of the outer edge of these highways.
Naik said, “We are hopeful that State highways will get de-notified and get notified as district roads.” If this happens, then bars, restaurants and liquor stores coming within 500 meters of state highways will be spared.
Naik continued, “There are more than 2,000 licenses of just wine stores in Goa, plus there are another 13,000 licenses given to bars and restaurants. Around 4 lakh people in Goa will get affected due to SC’s order.”
Naik further said that it is the job of police and regional transport office (RTO) to ensure that people don’t drink and drive and therefore this order is injustice to the people of Goa.
Meanwhile, it is still unknown exactly how many licenses will get affected due to this order. Naik informed that a 12-member team has been formed with each taluka being represented by one member each.
This team is assigned the task of finding the exact count of licenses to get affected, which they will let the Goa Liquor Traders Association know by February 18.
Naik also said, “If we don’t get relief, we will come down on highways and block roads.”
