Telangana News

Referring to the Supreme Court decision banning the sale of liquor through licensed premises abutting National and State Highways (NH/SH) from next fiscal, Kerala government asked the Excise Department to furnish the list of bar hotels, beer and wine parlors and government-run liquor retail outlets that could face potential closure. 

The move would also help the government in assessing its fallout on the crucial hotel and tourism sectors. Adding to it, the government should also factor in the social and economic costs of the decision. It is well known that, Kerala has arguably the highest per capita consumption of liquor in India, as evidenced by the ubiquitous queues in front of the State-run liquor outlets.

Now, it faces the difficult prospect of shutting down 115 State-run liquor outlets abutting 77 State and 9 National Highways criss-crossing Kerala. (64 of them are on the NH and rest on the SH.)