Supreme Court’s order banning liquor sales within 500 metres of highways has taken the buzz out of over 100 liquor vends, resto-bars and hotel bars in the national Capital.
Watering holes, iconic clubs and swanky pubs went high and dry as the Delhi Government went full steam to enforce the order.
The Supreme Court’s order has impacted 110 pubs and 42 shops in DlF cyber hub in neighbouring Gurugram and watering holes near the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway and State Highway have started to down shutters.
Most of the heavily-frequented pubs and bars, prominent hotels in Gurugram like the leela, Westin, Oberoi, Trident and Crowne Plaza, Cyber Hub, 32nd Milestone, Sector 29, MG road and Sohna road area which located near the Expressway, also fall within the Red Zone.
Officials with the Haryana Excise Department said licences of pubs and liquor shops within 500 metres will be cancelled as per the court order.
If they change their locations they have to apply for new licences. Officials said that they have identified 110 pubs and 42 liquor vends that would lose their licences for non-compliance with the apex court’s guidelines. The final identification list of the pubs and shops would be released by April 3, they added.
Moreover, the excise department on Saturday directed all pubs and bars at Cyber Hub and around 20 outlets in Sector 29 and Sohna road not to serve liquor till further notice.
Managers at most restaurants and pubs at Cyber Hub and Sohna road claimed that they stopped serving alcohol on Friday night itself.
Most of the pub managers and owners were not interested in talking to the media. They said the situation is very critical. They have no idea what to do now.
According to an estimate, the closure of the 42 liquor vends could result in a loss of more than Rs 69.80 crore in revenue per year.
“We will follow the orders of the Supreme Court. Our two teams have conducted a survey and will submit the measurement report to the department by April 3,” Ashok Malik, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner, of Gurugram said.
Meanwhile, pub and shop owners are planning to meet the excise department officials to get more clarity on the matter. “Varun Arora, who works with the IT firm at Udyog Vihar, went to the Cyber Hub with his friends on Sunday for fun but returned disappointed as most of the pubs were not serving liquor,” he said.
“This weekend the crowd was very thin. We received a lot of phone calls from customers, enquiring about the availability of alcohol, but no one walked in,” Gautam Singh, owner of the Raasta Cafe said.
“Hotel, Restaurants and pubs are being targeted unjustifiably. A couple of employees face the risk of losing jobs,” a manager, with the prominent hotel on the condition of anonymity said.
Meanwhile, the district department has initiated the process of forming two committees to ensure the implementation of the court’s order.
The committees are being formed under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner (DC) Hardeep Singh and representatives from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), Municipal Corporation Gurugram, Excise department, Gurugram police and sub-divisional magistrates, an official in DC Gurugram office said.
Meanwhile officials of Delhi Excise Department said that they had launched the drive on Friday (March 31) midnight which will continue on Monday.
“We shut down 50 bars in hotels and restaurants by Saturday. Also, 50 liquor vends have been closed during the drive,” a senior Government official said. These outlets were falling within 500 metres of six National Highways linking Delhi with other States.
The Excise Department has formed several teams to ensure all establishments within 500 metres of highways follow the court order. These teams roam in the night to check any violation.
Several outlets in the city have petitioned the excise department claiming they do not fall within 500m of highways.
Sources in the department said they are “flooded” with such complaints from affected licence holders. “We will again assess the distance of affected outlets to ascertain if they fall within 500 metres of the six National Highways linking Delhi with other States,” a source said.
As per the department, there are around 350 Government-run liquor vends and around 400 private vends operating in the national Capital. As per Government data, around 700 restaurants and hotels in the city serve liquor.