Chandigarh: After Bihar and Gujarat, Chandigarh is likely to go dry from April 1. If things remain as they are, the city could face a complete liquor ban, including in hotels, restaurants, and shops.
But this is not on account of any conscience pangs of the city administration, the ban would be enforced in line with the Supreme court judgement in December that banned liquor shops in an area of 500 meters from state highways and national highways.
Unfortunately, in Chandigarh all roads including the one’s dividing the sectors have been declared state/ national highways. The road categorization was done around 20 years ago, so that the UT administration could maintain these roads, the municipal corporation being short of funds at the time.
As of today then, apart from the one national highway that passes through the city, all major roads are state highways.
“In Chandigarh, Sectors are 1.2 km long and 0.8 km wide. With all vertical roads being state highways, 500 metres on either side of the road covers the whole of the city. Thus, all sectors come within 500 metres of state highways,” said home secretary Anurag Aggarwal, who is holding the charge of excise and taxation. “If nothing is done, the city entire will not have any liquor vend or bar in any hotel or restaurant. All of them will have to close down,” he added.