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Liquor Ban: States Ask Govt To Rename Highways As Urban Roads To Bypass SC's Order

A legal shortcut?
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Hurt by liquor ban, many states including Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, and Maharashtra have asked the central government to reclassify some highways or highway stretches as urban roads, ET reported.

States with a thriving tourism industry including union territories such as Daman have informally asked the government to intervene, according to the report.

This kind of reclassification of highways has been done in the past, say experts.

"The Ring Road stretch that passes through areas such as South Extension and Bikaji Cama Place in Delhi was a national highway earlier. Later, we passed it on to the state and it was christened as urban road," a senior government official told ET.

Late last year, Supreme Court passed an order banning the sale of alcohol along national highways to tackle the menace of drunk driving. The order also includes bars, pubs and hotels that are within 500 metres of national highways.

According to early estimates, states and hospitality companies could see a loss of Rs 65,000 crores, and as many as 1 million jobs could go as a result of the ban.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.