Liquor shops sealed, but sale on; Owners use service doors to hoodwink authorities

Liquor shops sealed, but sale on

Owners use service doors to hoodwink authorities

Liquor being sold to customers through the window of a sealed shop at Doda village on the Muktsar-Bathinda highway in Muktsar district on Thursday. Tribune photo

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Muktsar, November 19

Although 27 liquor vends located on national highways in the district have been sealed, vend owners reportedly continue to sell liquor. On the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Excise and Taxation Department sealed the liquor vends. But vend owners are reportedly opposing the move.

For instance, a liquor vend at Doda village on Muktsar-Bathinda highway was sealed in the morning, but its owner was reportedly selling liquor in the afternoon. One of the liquor vend employees reportedly broke a windowpane to enter the building and then opened the service door for others.

Department officials were unaware about this development. GS Sandhu, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC), Muktsar, said, “I am sending a team to assess the ground reality. If someone has opened the liquor vend again, we will take action against him. We sealed 27 liquor vends in the district for flouting norms.”

The high court on Monday gave the state government two days to remove all liquor vends from national highways. On October 19, the petitioner, NGO ArriveSafe, presented to the court photographs of 32 liquor vends operating on national highways against high court orders. In 2014, the high court passed an order that no liquor vend should be accessible or visible from the national highways or service lanes.

Courtesy: The Tribune