MARGAO
The Salcete excise team has kicked off the ardous task of identifying the bars located within 500 meters from the State highway and National highway from Monday.
A team of excise officials from the taluka led by Inspector Chandranath Desai began the work from Raia village to find out the numbers of retail bars falling within the 500 meter radius as per the Supreme Court directives.
The team was assisted by officials from other departments equipped with technical knowhow to carry out the exercise.
A memorandum issued by Excise Commissioner Menino D’Souza states that no shop for the sale of liquor shall be visible from a national or state highway; is directly accessible from a national or state highway and situated within a distance of 500 meters of the outer edge of the national or state highway or of a service lane along the highway.
In fact, the memorandum has prohibited all signages and advertisements of the availability of liquor, with a direction to remove the existing signages and advertisements forthwith, both on the national and state highways.
The taluka excise inspectors have been further enjoined not to process any new application for grant of licence for sale of liquor, if the premises where the licence is sought to be operated, contravenes the directions passed by the Supreme Court.
