Bhubaneswar, June 5: A number of foreign liquor outlets are operating along the National Highway-16 flouting government norms.

Despite the state government issuing a notification last year to relocate liquor shops 50km away from national and state highways in a bid to curb accidents, The Telegraph traced as many as six off shops, two on shops and two posh bars operating along the 14km stretch of the highway from Palasuni to Khandagiri Square.

"There has been a ban on the sale of liquor along the highways, but the state government is not bothered to put a brake on the illegal shops. Not only along the highways, liquor shops should be shut down anywhere in the city. Liquor is a threat to the society," said Md Imran Ali of Sankalpi, an organisation that has been campaigning for total prohibition.

An official report accessed by this newspaper on liquor shops along national and state highways in the state revealed that the government had found nearly 390 shops violating the 50m norm. Of these, 215 have been relocated in the past one year.

The government has decided to shift the remaining 175 by the end of June this year.

A senior official of the excise department told The Telegraph that the government was focusing more on ensuring safety of citizens on the roads, especially after the Brasilia conference on road safety that was held in 2015 following which the Supreme Court directed state governments to form their own policies on road safety.

"We have closed down and in many cases shifted more than 200 such liquor shops along the highways in the state. Shifting the rest is proving to be a bit difficult as some of these are located on private land. However, efforts are being made to shift them as soon as possible," said the senior official of the excise department.

He said that the chief secretary had directed the officials last month to deploy police personnel with breath analysers at every road junction close to such liquor shops to catch drunk drivers.

Sources said that though breath analyser test was supposed to be carried out throughout the state, but due to shortage of manpower and equipment it would be confined to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack for the time being.

Officials said that the chief secretary had also requested the excise department to consider the possibility of revising the closure time of liquor shops along the highways from the present 10.30pm to 8pm.

"This is a good move by the government. They should also keep a close watch on illegal liquor shops," said Niraj Rout, a resident.

According to a police data, nearly 426 accidents took place on the national highway in the past two years. Around 175 people have died and more than 500 were injured in the mishaps.

Sources said nearly 60 per cent of these accidents occurred due to drink driving.

"Frequent accidents took place on this stretch from Rasulgarh to Khandagiri due to rash driving by drunk drivers. We keep tabs on such incidents and riders. We are shortly going to intensify our drive," said a senior police official.