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To get around liquor ban, Rajasthan to call state highways 'urban roads'

To get around liquor ban, Rajasthan to call state highways 'urban roads'

Liquor

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The change will take place in populated areas if the highways are connected by bypasses

To get around the Supreme Court's liquor ban, Rajasthan will start calling highways passing through populated areas as "urban roads" if they are connected by bypasses.

The Supreme Court had ordered the closure of all liquor vends along -- up to a distance of 500 metres -- state and national highways.

The court was trying to curb drunken driving. (India has the highest number of road accident deaths in the world.)

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The order kicked in on Saturday, April 1.

The court had on Friday refused to take back the order or give state governments more time to implement the order, but it did reduce the distance up to which liquor vends had to shut down from 500 to 220 metres in areas with populations of less than 20,000.

The order also covers pubs, hotels, and restaurants.

Since the order kicked in, thousands of them around the country have been forced to stop serving alcohol.

(WION)