BENGALURU: Liquor might not solve all the problems, but it is worth a shot. This is what the state government has done to save liquor shops: downgrade stretches of national highways into ‘local roads’.
The Supreme Court had banned liquor shops within 500m radius of the NHs in 2017. And the state government act is seen as an attempt to circumvent this ‘none-for-the-road’ order. Excise duty is one of the main sources of state’s revenue.
The issue came up in the Legislative Assembly on Monday and this admission came from none other than Public Works Department Minister Govind Karjol.
He said that some roads have been downgraded to help liquor shops. Ironically, none of the departments -- neither the Public Works Department nor the municipality nor the RDPR is maintaining those stretches.
KM Shivalinge Gowda, MLA from Arsikere, raised the issue on behalf of Bandeppa Kashampur (JDS) about the highway which had been downgraded in Bidar (Humnabad-Hyderbad road). During question hour, he pointed out that a 3 km stretch of the NH that used to pass Munnakehalli in Bidar district had been downgraded into a major district road and handed over to the local body. This road is now neglected, neither Public Works Department nor the local body is taking care of it, he said.
In reply, Karjol said many of the highways were downgraded to accommodate liquor shops. Now that these stretches are downgraded and do not fall under the Highway category, the PWD cannot maintain those roads, he said. He, however, added that they would write to the departments concerned, including RDPR and the Department of Urban Development, asking them to maintain these roads at their cost as the roads have now been handed over to the local municipality and panchayats.
Former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar said the issue of downgrading the roads is because of pressure from liquor shop owners. “If you have done to accommodate liquor shops, collect money from them and utilise it for road development,’’ he said.
Former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde said as per the National Highway Act, there should be no building withing 50 m on either side of the road. The basic purpose is to have less number of people, so that there will be no traffic issue. But on our NHs, they are allowing to construct buildings on either side. And putting speed breakers on highways defeats the very purpose, he said.
Justice Hegde said that instead of constructing a bypass road near townships where NH passes, the government has bypassed the Supreme Court order to accommodate liquor shops.