Uttar Pradesh and Odisha are removing liquor shops along the national and state highways to bring down road accident deaths. However, shops on private land continue to flourish. This is despite the National Highways Authority of India directing States to remove liquor vends along highways.

“Odisha has removed about 200 liquors shops from along national and state highways located on government land in the past one year, though it has not been able to do so from private land,” M Akshaya, Transport Commissioner, Odisha, told BusinessLine. The State government has decided that liquor shops should be located at least 50 metres away from the borders of national and state highways.

Following suit, Uttar Pradesh has also requested the excise department to relocate liquor shops away from the highways. “We have started removing these,” said K Ravindra Naik, UP Transport Commissioner. The situation will become clear as the next round of excise licenses are given. UP stands to lose up to Rs 4,000-5,000 crore annually by implementing such a move.

Smaller states, such as Nagaland, too are concerned over rising fatalities in road accidents. “Drunken driving is identified as one of the key reasons of such accidents,” said Nagaland’s Transport Commissioner H Achumi.

India accounts for the largest number of road accident deaths. The location of liquor vends along highways, has been flagged in various High Courts and is being monitored by the Supreme Court. Recently, the Rajasthan High Court issued an order stating that liquor vends should not be located within 150 metres of highways.

However, many States are still reluctant to implement such norms given that excise duty from liquor sales is one of the top revenue earners for them.

Harman Singh Sidhu of Arrive Safe, an NGO, who has filed a PIL in Rajasthan High Court following the favourable order, said many States are implementing the order in letter but not in spirit. Incidentally, Sidhu started the NGO after a car accident left him paralysed neck downward.

Sidhu cited the instance of Punjab, which is facing an acute problem of alcohol and drugs among its youth. The State’s excise policy states that liquor vends should be located at a “reasonable distance” from the metallic portion of the roads, but it defines the distance for location of liquor vends from religious and educational institutions (50 metres in urban areas and 100 metres in rural areas).

Last year, Punjab and Haryana officials had said they had closed 1,000 shops along the highways. But in Punjab and Haryana, liquor shops continue to be located with a veiled curtain by turning the entrance away from the highway, or even building a small broken wall, says Sidhu.

“We have submitted photographs to the court,” says Sidhu, adding that revenue loss to the exchequer is clearly a reason for some States not removing these shops. He also alleges a nexus between businessmen and the officials concerned, as “large quantities of liquor sold are not billed”.

On way to tackle the problem, says SP Singh, Senior Fellow, IFTRT, could be to have road design interventions to prevent access to liquor vends, such as closed highways with borders and providing longer access to shops.

Various studies have shown a correlation between drunken driving and fatalities. According to a World Health Organisation study in low- and middle-income countries, between 33 and 69 per cent of fatally injured drivers and 8-29 per cent of non-fatally injured drivers had consumed alcohol before their crash.

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