Around 220 bars and beer-wine parlours which had been shut down in Kerala from April 1 following the Supreme Court order, are all set to reopen as per a report in the Times of India.
This comes after the state cabinet on Wednesday decided to denotify state highways (including bypasses) within corporation and municipality limits.
The state highways will be denotified as part of Highway Protection Act, 1999 and nearly 220 bars and liquor outlets are expected to straightaway benefit from this decision, the report says.
As per a Manorama report, 129 beer-wine parlours will be reopened, besides 76 toddy parlours, 10 liquor outlets and four clubs with licence to serve liquor.
Certain sections of state highway and bypasses within city town limits will be denotified as major district roads.
An in-principle approval to denotify state highways was earlier given by excise and public works departments.
Following the Supreme Court order on April 1 banning sale of liquor within 500m of state and national highways, a total of 479 bars and liquor vends were closed in Kerala.
The excise department was hit badly as a result as it lost one-tenth of its revenue from liquor sales, the ToI report says.
Further, the government loses Rs 3 crore a day due to the closure of bar hotels and beer-wine parlours along state and national highways as per estimates prepared by the excise department.
In 2016, the state government earned Rs 10,500 crore from liquor sales, including sales tax, excise duty, licence fee and other proceeds, the ToI report adds.