Liquor shops on highways to be shut in Rajasthan

Jaipur: Close to 2800 liquor shops on national and state highways in Rajasthan will be closed, as per the Supreme Court's last month order.

The state has 7760 liquor shops and nearly 2800 of them fall within the 500 meter radius of highways and thus come under the Supreme Court order.

The apex court in its December 15 order, has banned all liquor shops on national as well as state highways across the country and directed that licenses of existing shops will not be renewed after March 31.

"The Supreme Court order will be followed and as per that, nearly 2800 liquor shops which are located on highways will be shut down in the state," OP Yadav, Excise Commissioner-Rajasthan, told PTI.

He said that the state has 7760 liquor shops.

"The revenue target for the ongoing fiscal year is Rs 7000 crore and the impact of the decision of the revenue collection will be only assessed at the end of the financial year," he said.
Last year's revenue collection was 6300 crore, he said.

The apex court had expressed concern over 1.5 lakh fatalities every year in road mishaps, saying it may direct closure of liquor vends on national and state highways across the nation, besides removal of the signages indicating their location.

In Rajasthan, over 8,000 people have died and over 22,000 have injured in road mishaps in 2015.