This Kerala Bar Has Built A Maze To Bypass The Liquor Ban And Is ‘Jugaad’ At Its Best!

To counter incidents of drunk driving and reduce road accidents, the Supreme Court ordered a complete ban on all liquor shops located within a 500-metre range of national and state highways across the nation from April 1st. While the ban was hailed and applauded by many, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (who has taken unprecedented steps to make Bihar a dry state himself), most people, including bar owners and politicians like Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, demanded some relaxation. Many states were also worried as a drop in liquor sales would directly hit their revenue.

However, as India is the proud birthplace of ‘Jugaad’, both bar-owners and state officials across the nation have found loopholes around the law to stay unaffected by the ban.

The owner of Aishwarya Restobar, located on National Highway-17 in Paravoor, Kerala has found the smartest way to counter the liquor ban by building a maze that increases the distance to the bar by about 250-300 metre.

It took the owner about ₹2 lakh to build the maze but now they are officially more than 500 metres away from the highway.

 

Similarly, in Gurugram, Haryana, the entrance to Cyber Hub, that houses multiple pubs and restaurants, has been so changed that it is now more than a kilometre away from National Highway-8.

However, the best way of getting away with from the law has been found by various state governments.

 

Governments of many states like Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Punjab are denotifying major state highways as ‘district roads’ and are seeking centre’s help to denotify national highways passing through them to allow liquor shops bypass the law.

Now, whether the apex court takes an action on state governments and property owners resorting to such loopholes remains to be seen. But they have definitely proved,

“Where there is a will, there is a way.”

News Source: The News Minute, Hindustan Times (1,2) and The Tribune