MARGAO: Reacting to the Supreme Court recent order banning all liquor shops within 500 metres of national and state highways across the country, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary and spokesperson Damodar Naik said the State government has already asked the legal department to prepare the revision application to be filed before the Apex Court, which will be filed the moment the Election Code of Conduct comes to an end.
Briefing media persons in Margao, he said the Excise Department has already prepared a report on the number of people affected and appealed to the people of Goa not to panic over the Supreme Court order banning all liquor shops within 500 metres of national and state highways. He further said that his party if voted to power, would resolve the issue aptly.
It may be recalled that the apex court in its recent order has banned all liquor shops within 500 metres of national and state highways across the country, a move aimed at reducing drunken driving and road accidents that claim thousands of lives every year. Licences of existing shops will not be renewed after March 31 next year, it had said. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur ordered removal of all signboards of alcohol vends along highways. Naik said it was the bounden duty of the government that comes to power in Goa to ensure that justice is meted out to the thousands of families dependent upon the liquor outlets alongside the national and State highways. He admitted that the government was taken by surprise with the Supreme Court judgement as except for Haryana, no other State was made a party to the petition.
