Bar owners and employees seek CM's help

Bengaluru: The Bar owners and employees staged a protest march against the law to close down bars and pubs on highways.

On Monday, the Federation of Wine Merchants’ Association (FWMA) organized a march where over 500 bar owners and employees marched from Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station to Freedom Park, demanding that the state government emulate Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, which have amended the act to allow pubs and bars to function 500 metres from highways.

With a ban on the sale of liquor within 500 metres of national highways, most bars and pubs on MG Road, in Indiranagar and on Church Street shut shop and have been incurring losses.

On July 4, the Supreme Court amended its rule that national highways within the city could be denotified.

Lokesh of Bangalore District Division, FWMA, said to a news channel that “We have been appealing to the government to make amendments for the past three months. Our industry generates revenues of around Rs 18,000 crore. We have contributed thousands of crores to the government in taxes. We are proud to be wine merchants. This ban is causing losses of around Rs 15 crore a day.”

Later, representatives of the federation sought Siddaramaiah’s intervention when they met him and 25 MLAs. The chief minister assured them that the government will take a call on the issue based on the outcome of the Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday.