A day after the Punjab government denotified 12 highway stretches to bypass the Supreme Court’s order banning sale or serving of liquor within 500 metres of national and state highways, senior officials on Wednesday justified the decision saying the roads de-notified were 'city roads'.

According to them, the state highways of Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh, Balachaur-Garshankar, Moga-Kotkapura, Moga-Harike, Gagan Chowk to Liberty Chowk, JCS Saviour School to Bhaironpur Sirhind Chunni Road, Malikpur Chowk to Dalhousie by-pass, have now become 'city roads'.

Adding to this, the government has clarified that the five national highways on which by-passes are expected to become functional during the current fiscal, would also be out of the purview of the highways.

Presently, Punjab has a total of 1,393 kilometers stretches that falls under the ambit of state highways.

"Only the roads within the city limits have been de-notified while the by-passes will still remain state highways. The distance of bypass and city road in every city is almost equal. The city roads will be maintained by the concerned state departments on state expenditure," Principal Secretary, Public Works Department (PWD), Punjab, Jaspal Singh, told The Statesman.

Sources in the excise and taxation department said that the de-notification is likely to help less than 500 liquor outlets. They further added that the sale of liquor earns over Rs 5,000 Crore annually for the state exchequer.

Sources said national highways had a greater density of liquor selling outlets than the state highways and they were waiting and watching to act as far as national highways are concerned.

"Instead of looking at the short term measures like de-notification of roads, the government should go through the Supreme Court's ruling seriously. Government's de-notification move will definitely going to create a confusion over the status of the roads.

The government should work out on the new excise policy and its effective implementation instead of taking such short-term measures," said Aam Adami Party (AAP) leader Chander Suta Dogra, while criticising the state government.