Bengaluru: Come July 1, weekend parties will be thing of past as the city's watering holes in the heart of the Central Business District (CBD) like MG Road. Church Street, Brigade Road, St. Marks Road, Residency Road and all the roads that abut highways in residential areas like Indiranagar and Koramangla will go dry following the Supreme Court's ban on liquor shops within 500 meters of National Highway across the country.
At least over 340 pubs and bars, and 19 star hotels across the city including the pub streets of MG Road, Church Street and Brigade Road will stop selling alcoholic beverages from the midnight of June 30 with the state estimated to lose Rs 2,200 crores in revenue. The excise department confirmed that they will implement the ban and no sales will be allowed from July 1. It is imperative for the liquor vendors to comply with the Supreme Court directive, said Joint Commissioner Excise, Rajendra Prasad.
The excise department will go ahead to implement the ban. However, the liquor shops and pubs can relocate 500 metres away from the highways to operate their business. Through licences the department was earning Rs. 500 crore. With the enforcing of the ban, the department will end up losing Rs. 220 crore. It is however difficult to estimate the exact loss in the city, said Mr. Prasad.
Ashok Sadhwani, owner of The Pub World says, "We have not received any reprieve from the government. The loss would run into thousands of crores. Excise department has stopped accepting the Challans for the renewals of licenses. So the ban is enforced from July 1. Only eatables will be served at the pub," he said. On the issue of the reprieve of three months being provided to the bar owners he said it is not true.
Srinivas, manager of Pecos pub said that from Friday the only ingestible on the menu was food and not liquor. "We have started shifting pub to BTM layout. However, we will wait for the denotification of the highways from the state government", he added.
A number of liquor shop, pub license holders are in the process of relocating their business to comply with the Supreme Court directive. President of Karnataka Beverages and Distilleries Association Arun Kumar said that a large number of licence holders have applied for relocating of their shops.
Excise licence revenue earned per annum Rs 5,000 cr
Number of highways criss crossing the city 5
Number of pubs and shops affected Over 350
The estimated loss due to the new rule Rs 2,200 cr​
Five highways crisscross city
NH 209- Kanakpura Road, VISL Layout, Talaghattapura
NH 44- Hosur Road, Hebbal, HSR Layout, Silk Board, Koramanagala
NH 48- MG Road, Residency Road, Church Street, Brigade Road
NH 275 - Mysore Road
NH 75- Yeshwantpur Industrial area, Peenya, Tumkur Main Road
However, the shops will not be relocated to residential areas as erroneously. It can be shifted only to places that have been designated as commercial by the BBMP or other competent authorities, he said.
On a positive note, the state government may come up with some relief, he added. The shop can be relocated anywhere in city by applying before the deputy commissioner. For instance, TOIT pub on Indiranagar can be shifted towards Domlur.
Other excise officials said there was no restriction for the liquor shops to locate toresidential areas as long as they maintain 100 meters distance from places of worship, educational institutions and residential areas which are predominantly dominated by people from SC/ST communities, added sources.
