People won't be saying cheers in as many as 741 bars, pubs and restaurants in Bengaluru from July 1. The Excise Department has issued notices to 741 establishments asking them to stop serving liquor in the wake of the Supreme Court’s rule forbidding sale of liquor within 500m of state and national highways.
The zone-wise notices, according to Nagarjun Dwarakanath were issued as follows: South-244, East-219, North-153 and West-125.
Excise Dept Notice issued- zone wise in Blore
— Nagarjun Dwarakanath (@nagarjund) June 29, 2017
South - 244
East- 219
North - 153
West - 125
TOTAL - 741 (including pubs and restaurants )
Rajendra Prasad, Additional Commissioner of Excise, said that the ground level survey has been completed and there are 741 outlets in the city which have been issued notices to stop serving or selling liquor. These include retail outlets, pubs and restaurants.
He said that the notices have been served to all of them on June 22 and said they have to comply by July 1.
In total, there are 3,142 licensed establishments in Bengaluru which are authorised to serve liquor.
According to officials with the Public Works Department, 77.46 km of national highways pass through Bengaluru. Some of these roads are even maintained by the NHAI.
Out of 6,572 km of national highways in the state, 858 km pass through cities and towns in the state. The NHAI has built 154 km of bypass roads in other cities in Karnataka but not in Bengaluru.
According to a senior official with the state Public Works Department, it was only on June 15 that the officials sent a letter to the Centre, asking them to denotify the national highways.
“The senior officials could have acted earlier but they waited for too long since the SC order came out on March 31,” the PWD official said.
Some of the prominent outlets which stand affected are the 13th Floor, Guzzlers Inn, Le Rock and Pecos.
In fact, with the deadline to stop serving liquor nearing, several of these bars are now offering huge discounts to customers to clear their stock.
And, if you think that only the bars in MG Road and Brigade Road will have to stop serving alcohol, you are wrong.
There are six National Highways that run through Bengaluru - Tumkur Road (NH 4), Bellary Road (NH 7), Old Madras Road (NH 4), Hosur Road (NH 7), Bannerghatta Road, Kanakapura Road (NH 209), Mysore Road (SH-17) and Magadi Road.
This means that bars certain bars in Indiaranagar, Koramagala, Madiwala, JP Nagar, Malleshwaram, JC Road, Wilson Garden, Yeshwantpur, Peenya, Hosur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Banashankari, Kengeri and BTM Layout will also face the axe.