Supreme Court’s on Liquor sales along Highways in India

Supreme Court’s ban on liquor sales within 500 meter of national & state highways has come into force from April 1^st. This order gives priority to human safety on roads over the revenue generated from liquor sales. Everyday around 420 people are killed on roads and thousands are injured in India. Yes, India may lose thousands of crores of liquor revenue but if this ban saves even the life of 10 people per day, then this ban will serve its purpose.

Drink & Drive is one of the major causes of road accidents in India. The average speed of vehicles in India is slow in cities due to traffic congestion & in villages due to poor roads. So majority of the overspreading cases happen on Highways (National & State). These highways are the backbone of India and they carry more than half of Indian traffic. And there has been rise in drink & drive cases in these highways in recent years. Also, liquor is freely available in dhabas, bars, restaurants, hotels along the highways in our country. It is very common for drivers to consume alcohol in these dhabas. Just go to any dhaba or hotel alongside a busy highway, you will find many drivers consuming alcohol. This results in rash driving. We all might have witnessed rash driving on highways if we would have traveled during night-time on highways. This is a well-known fact in India and no one can deny it. If the alcohol is not available readily alongside highways, then there are chances that many drivers (mainly of big commercial vehicles) may not travel 500 meter just to drink alcohol. But many will still go to nearest bars inside the city or village & consume alcohol.

But many bar owners have opposed the idea. As per a few bar owners, this ban may force them to commit suicide like farmers. I think it is purely imaginary consequences. Yes, thousands of bar owners may lose revenue and lakhs of their employees may lose jobs. Once everyone will know that liquor is available just 500 meters, their business may stabilize in sometime although their revenue many not reach to pre-ban level. State governments will also lose thousands of crores of revenue due to this ban and it will adversely affect their finance. Many state governments have started the process de-notifying state highways as urban or rural roads. As bans are not applicable for city & village roads, thus liquor will be available on those de-notified roads as earlier.

Road safety should be of paramount importance but without collective awareness & responsibility from public, drivers, police and government, any ban may not serve its true purpose. We should think about the condition of families which have lost their loved ones in road accident just because some random driver was driving under influence of alcohol. We as an Indian have collective responsibility to minimize the deaths due to road accidents. What is the fault of thousands who get killed on roads? Their only fault is that they were walking or driving on Indian roads where drivers drive under the influence of alcohols without any effective check or awareness. Yes, revenue is important but the value of life can’t be measured in terms of money. Even a 5 paisa cess on a liter of petrol or diesel can offset the revenue loss due to this ban and help in re-habilitation of those whose livelihood will be lost due to this ban. I welcome this decision by Supreme Court and hope that India will learn to give prime importance to the “LIFE”.