Bhubaneswar: Acting on a Supreme Court order the state government Friday directed the district collectors and field officers of excise department to expedite relocation of liquor shops within a distance of 500 metres from the highways by March-end failing which such shops may face closure threat from April 1.
A direction to this effect came from Chief secretary AP Padhi during a review, at Secretariat in presence of Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan, on implementation of the apex court order for removal of liquor shops close to NHs and SHs in the state.
Around 1712 shops operating within the specified distance have been identified, the Chief Secretary said, adding directions had been issued to district collectors and field officers of excise department to shift the shops by March 31 failing which the concerned shops would be sealed with effect from April 1,
Excise secretary Bishnupada Sethi presented the updates and outlined the legal and administrative issues for discussion. Revenue secretary Mona Sharma, works secretary Nalinikanta Pradhan and other senior officers of concerned departments attended the review.
Notably, excise minister Damodar Rout in his written reply to a question posed by a member had said implementation of a Supreme Court order mandating closure of liquor shops along highways from April 1 would leave the state exchequer poorer by `1,100 crore. The apex court had ruled that there should be no liquor outlets within 500 metres of highways across the country by March 31, 2017.
If not relocated, the closure of the shops will hit the state’s excise revenue further. The government had set a target of collecting `3,300 crore excise revenue in 2016-17 fiscal of which it has been able to collect `2092.80crore as of January 31.
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