Bringing relief to liquor shops around Chandigarh, the the Chandigarh administration has finally de-notified V1 (fast roads connecting Chandigarh to other towns), V2 (arterial roads) and V3 roads (fast vehicular sector dividing roads) as state highways.
However, the Madhya Marg will continue to be a state highway. The road provides direct connection between Chandigarh and different towns of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
Madhya Marg passes through sectors 12,14, 11,15, 10,16, 9,17, 8,18, 7,19, 26,27 and 26,28. The other roads only have intra-city traffic.
In Chandigarh, NH-21 passes through sectors 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 32, ,33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41 and 39, 38.
In Chandigarh, NH-21 passes through sectors 20, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 32, ,33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41 and 39, 38
With this, around 30 vends operating on Madhya Marg and National Highway-21 will be closed, rest around the city will remain unaffected.
Backrground of the move
- The Supreme Court of India, on a petition filed by Harman Sidhu, president of Arrive Safe, a city-based NGO on road safety, had passed an order on December 15 that liquor vends must be at least 500 metres away from state and national highways from April 1.
- Since roads in Chandigarh have been notified as state and national highways, the court order would have led to closure of all liquor shops in around the highways. In addition to it, the the bar licence of restaurants, bars and hotels on these roads would also have not been renewed.
- Since liquor in Chandigarh is cheaper than in adjoining states, Punjab and Haryana, the city has been a preferred shopping destination for booze lovers in the region.
- The Chandigarh Administration was staring at annual loss Rs 250 crore had the order been executed in Chandigarh.
- To avoid this the Chandigarh administration set up a 4-member committee (comprising UT chief engineer (chairman), MC chief engineer, chief architect and additional excise and taxation commissioner) to deal with this. The committee recommended to change the nomenclature of state highways as district highways.
On the committee’s recommendations and a legal opinion, the UT administrator VP Singh Badnore accorded approval to the decision.
Source: Times of India
Image Credits: Google Images
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