PANAJI
There are eight state highways and four national highways in Goa along which no bars and no liquor shops will exist from April 1.
Moreover, the court has also banned the sale of alcohol within a distance of 500 meters from the outer edge of highways. The longest national highway cutting across Goa is NH 17, which goes from Patradevi in Maharashtra till Polem, a distance of 137 kms.
NH17 almost touches Mapusa, cuts across Porvorim to reach Panaji and from thereon goes deep in south till Polem. Other parts of Goa aren’t spared either by the SC’s order either, as NH17A starts from Cortalim junction, goes through Vasco, and ends at Mormugao Port Trust (MPT), which is a distance of 17 kms.
Then, there is NH4A, which goes from somewhere around Anmod touches Ponda and Old Goa to reach Panaji, a distance of around 70 kms. Another national highway, NH17B, starts from Farmagudi Circle Bus Stop goes to Verna Industrial state and from there to MPT, another distance of around 40.3 kms.
This means that overall there are around 264.3 kms of national highways in Goa along which and within 500 meters of their edge no sale of alcohol will happen from April 1. This is significant considering Goa’s tiny size compared to other States in India.
Moreover, there are eight state highways in Goa where the order is also applicable. The longest is Cunchelim-Assonora-Sanquelim-Valpoi, which is around 39.7 kms.
The other state highways are Sanquelim-Keri-Chorla measuring 29.9 kms followed by Darbandora-Curchorem measuring 23.7 kms, Margao-Sao Jose de Areal-Chandor-Curchorem measuring 18.4 kms, Ponda-Borim-Margao, Ponda-Piliem, Assonora-Dodamarg and Borim-Curchorem-Sanguem-Zuna.
