By Our chief Reporter

Porvorim (Goa) Goa government will categorise the liquor outlets along the highways which are yet to get relief from the Supreme Court ban, so as to provide them relief within the existing laws. 

The State has formed three-member committee comprising of Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza, Agriculture Minister Vijai Sardesai and Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte to find out the way to help the liquor outlets, which are shut due to SC order.

The committee which met today at the Secretariat decided to categorise the liquor outlets which are yet to get relief from the SC order, which had banned them from operating since April, 2017.

“There are 1,332 liquor outlets which  are affected with the ban on selling of liquor on highways imposed through SC order,” Sardesai said talking to reporters after the meeting.

He said that the committee which held a preliminary meeting will meet again on next Wednesday to categorise these outlets on various parameters like those which are close to the city, those in sufficient developed areas etc.

Sardesai said that the state will bank on the data collected from the Census Operations to categorise the areas and accordingly will try to give relief to the outlets within existing law.

“ We share the concern of bar owners. We believe that they are goans and they have been in this activity for long and it is their bread and butter. We are sympathetic towards them,” he said.

Sardesai said that the initial SC order had affected more than 3,000 outlets which was brought down to mere 1,332 through various actions within the legal parameters.