E-Paper
Wine shops may be shifted to isolated places
WINE SHOPS existing in the areas, which are prohibited under the UP State Excise Act are likely to be shifted to other commercial sites to avoid harassment to the residents.
WINE SHOPS existing in the areas, which are prohibited under the UP State Excise Act are likely to be shifted to other commercial sites to avoid harassment to the residents.
According to the Rule 5 of the Act 1968, no wine shop could be allowed to exist near any public place, school, hospital, worship place and near the residential place. But in practice, the excise department and the district authorities took no serious note of the wine shops set up in the prohibited areas in utter violation of the provisions of the act.
Most of the wine shops in Swaroop Nagar, Mall Road, Gumti and in other areas were opened near the educational institutions. Even the wine shops existed near the girls’ schools and colleges, which caused difficulties to the students.
The recent orders of the high court to shift all the wine shops opened in the prohibited areas in Lucknow have also alarmed the shop owners and the officials of the excise department. They feel that the court could also issue the similar directives for each district.
An official of the excise department told Hindustan Times that if the shop owners were asked to shift to isolated places the revenue would fall considerably. Customers did not prefer to go to shops at a long distant and in any of the residential area it was impossible to ensure that the wine shop should be opened at a distance of two hundred meters from the residential colonies, schools and the worship places.
He said at present the schools and worship places have been set up in every lane and by-lane and as such how the distance of two hundred meters could be ensured. In fact, now within an area of two hundred meters there were more than three schools and two worship places.
He said there was need to amend the Excise Act and locations of the wine shops be re-defined in the context of the changing social scenario. He said if the rules laid several years ago were followed religiously, the state excise department would not be able either to earn good revenue nor it would be able to achieve the fixed targets. Even this year, despite all the best possible efforts the department failed to achieve the revenue target of Rs 113 crore.
