Ban on liquor outlets along highways in Kerala may change identity of this tipplers' paradise

With the Supreme Court's order to close all liquor outlets along state and national highways in the country, every liquor outlet within a radius of 500 meters from the highway will see its end by April 1, 2017. But for Mahe, a small town in Kerala this means shutting down of more than half of its liquor outlets.

Mahe measures just about 9 sq km in area and houses 62 liquor outlets and bars. 35 of them are situated along the highway NH17 which cuts through this town sandwiched between Kannur and Kozhikode districts of Kerala.

A tipplers' paradise, the town has remained untouched by the existing liquor policy in Kerala for it is under the Puducherry jurisdiction and with Kerala's shutting down of bars in 2014, tipplers from neighbouring districts flocked to Mahe for cheap liquor increasing the revenue by about 10 per cent. But with today's Supreme Court order, Mahe is unlikely to be an exemption.

"There is no way we can even work around this order, say by relocating or changing the entrance. Government would easily lose around 40 crore rupees per day. And shutting down 35 outlets means loss of more than a 1000 jobs," said NP Sujith, whose bar is situated along the highway. "We will discuss the possibility of approaching the court with our concerns," said Sujith.

Protests against liquor outlets along highway in Mahe had frequently gained momentum specially since the Supreme Court appointed panel on road safety submitted its report recommending shutdown of bars along highways.

"We have only heard about the order from news. We are bound to implement the Supreme Court order whatever it is. We will go through the order in detail, discuss and decide what must be our next step," TP Ramakrishnan, Excise Minister of Kerala told media.