Liquor ban: Punjab denotifies stretches of 7 state highways

Chandigarh, April 4

In a move which may bring some relief to hotels, bars and restaurants affected by the apex court ruling against liquor vends on highways, the Punjab Government on Tuesday denotified the bypassed stretches of seven state highways.

The state government has denotified the bypassed stretches of seven state highways, thus making them a part of the city roads, said an official release here.

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“The move is in line with the Central government’s policy on national highways, which excludes bypassed stretches from the national highways and brings them under the city’s urban roads network,” it said.

The roads denotified are Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh (Hoshiarpur city), Balachaur-Garshankar (Balachaur city), Moga-Kotkapura and Moga-Harike (part of Moga city), Gagan Chowk to Liberty Chowk (Rajpura city), JCS Saviour School to Bhaironpur Sirhind Chunni Road (Sirhind city) and Malikpur Chowk to Dalhousie by-pass (Pathankot city).

The government further clarified that as per the existing Central government policy for national highways, certain bypassed stretches are already excluded from the highways.

These five highways are Sambhu-Ludhiana-Jalandhar- Amritsar up to Wagah Border section, NH1 (Ludhiana bypass, Jalandhar bypass, Amritsar bypass), Pathankot-Amritsar- Makhu-Faridkot-Bathinda-Malout-Abohar-Ganganagar up to Rajasthan border section of NH-15 (Dina Nagar bypass, Dhariwal bypass, Batala bypass, Kathunagal bypass, Verka bypass, Abohar bypass), Zirakpur-Patiala-Sangrur-Bathinda section of NH-64 (Patiala bypass, Dhanaula bypass, Sangrur bypass), Phagwara-Banga-Nawanshahr-Balachaur-Ropar NH-344A (Phagwara bypass) and Kharar-Samrala-Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road section of NH-95 (Morinda bypass), the order said.

In addition, there are five national highways on which bypasses are expected to become functional during 2017-18, and once completed these stretches would also be out of the purview of the highways.

These are Pathankot-Amritsar-Makhu-Faridkot-Bathinda- Malout-Abohar-Ganga nagar upto Rajasthan border section of NH-15 (Amritsar bypass, Nashera bypass, Harike bypass, Zira bypass, Talwandi Bhai bypass, Mudki bypass, Faridkot & Kotkapura bypass), Zirakpur-Chandigarh-Ropar upto Himachal border section of NH-21 (Kurali bypass), Phagwara-Banga- Nawanshahr-Balachaur-Ropar NH-344A (Nawanshahr bypass), Kharar-Samrala-Ludhiana-Ferozepur Road section of NH-95 (Samrala bypass), Jalandhar-Moga-Barnala-Sangrur- Patran-Kanauri-Narwana-Rohtak upto Haryana border section of NH-71 (Nakhodar bypass, Shahkot bypass, Dharmkot bypass, Jalalabad bypass, Barnala bypass), the order added. — PTI