Thousands of liquor establishments that were closed following a Supreme Court order will have to wait longer for relief as the Centre seems to be dragging its feet on the state government’s request to denotify national highways in city limits.
More than 3,000 liquor establishments, 683 of them in Bengaluru, are waiting for denotification of NH stretches in city limits across the state.
The state PWD Department had last week replied to a letter from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), undertaking to maintain the stretches of the national highways measuring 704.5 km. The department had also suggested alternative roads to bypass several cities. In Bengaluru, NICE Road in the south and Dobbspet-Doddaballapur road in the north have been suggested as bypass roads.
“After we wrote to MoRTH suggesting alternative routes, we received a copy of the letter which has again sought details of the stretches to be denotified, including maps, in several cities in the state. The letter is originally addressed to MoRTH regional officer, chief general manager of National Highways Authority of India and NH chief engineer. MoRTH will take the next step after getting a reply from them,” sources in the PWD said.
As far as Bengaluru roads are concerned, NHAI officials have assured the PWD they will send the details within two days. It may take a few more days to submit details for other cities, sources added.
A PWD official admitted that there has been a delay in denotification. “Though the state government is ready to take the responsibility of maintaining the denotified NH roads, MoRTH has to consider all stakeholders. There are several states, besides Karnataka, which have sought denotification,” he noted.
“Moreover, they are answerable to the Supreme Court, which directed closure of liquor establishments near highways in view of increasing road accidents caused by drunken driving,” he added.
Published 09 August 2017, 19:20 IST