Gurgaon: Re-measurement of 'motorable distance' on request

Gurgaon excise and taxation department has asked the 115 affected pubs and bars to submit their request for re-measurement if they had any confusion regarding the “motorable distance” of 500 m from state and national highways.

The list of affected establishments was submitted to Gurgaon deputy commissioner on April 1, prepared by the east and west deputy excise and taxation commissioners.

Twenty-five restaurants, in areas including Sector 29 and Sohna Road, have surrendered their licences after the Supreme Court directive. After the ban, the owners were finding it difficult to manage expenses owing to low footfall.

The department has received only two affidavits so far from the owners of The Treehouse Queens Pearl, near Rajiv Chowk, and Chili’s Grill and Bar in Ambience Mall. More are expected this month, said a senior excise official.

“We will priortise measuring the distance for outlets that have doubts regarding the 'motorable distance'. They can submit their request, and the committee members will measure the distance in everybody’s presence. If they are outside the 500-m ambit, they can start serving liquor again,” said HC Dahiya, deputy excise and taxation commissioner of Gurgaon west.

Following the apex court's decision on December 15 to measure liquor vends falling within 500 m from national and state highways, the department carried out the measurement process for the motorable distance from the edge and the nearest point of service lanes of highways to the vend.

On the other hand, the pub and bars owners used different means for measuring the distance, such as Google Maps. They, too, stressed that "motorable" and not "aerial distance" would be the yardstick.

“We had measured the distance of our brewery using Google Maps from the edge of the highway, and we were almost 900 m away," said Baljeet Singh Rathi, director of Ninkasi Imperial Brews & Cookery, one of the banned pubs in Sector 30.