4 out of 5 people support ban on liquor shops near highways: Survey

Overwhelming 79% of people supported decision to ban liquor vends within 500 meters near highways

Four out of five people support the decision to ban liquor vends within 500 meters of national and state highways, a survey has said.

An overwhelming 79 per cent of people surveyed supported the Supreme Court's decision to ban liquor vends within 500 meters of national and state highways, the survey done by Inshorts and Ipsos said.

The survey was conducted on the Inshorts app from April 7 - 9, 2017, and garnered over 1.13 lakh responses with the participation of 16,729 app users.

"Surprisingly, even amongst people who said they consume alcohol, about 71 per cent supported the decision while 24 per cent opposed it," Inshorts and Ipsos said in a statement.

The survey was conducted to gauge the feedback of Urban Indians on the move.

As part of the survey questionnaire, users were asked if they consume alcohol, to which 40 per cent responded with 'yes', 56 per cent responded with 'no' and 4 per cent responded with 'don't want to disclose'.

As many as 71 per cent of respondents believe that closure of liquor vends near highways will reduce the incidents of drink driving, the statement said.

"With this poll, we have tried to capture the youth's feedback on the decision both from those who consume alcohol as well as those who don't," said Azhar Iqubal, CEO & Co- founder, Inshorts.

Parijat Chakraborty, Executive Director & Head of Public Affairs, India, Ipsos said, "Every three out of four persons feel that the court could have instead forced the governments to do their duties of implementing proper checking of drink driving.