Supreme Court bans liquor shops on all national and state highways

The Supreme Court has ordered a ban on all liquor shops on national as well as state highways across the country and has also made it clear that licenses of existing shops will not be renewed after March 31 next year.
This has been decided by a three-judge bench and they have also directed that all signages indicating presence of liquor vends will be prohibited on national and state highways.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com date 15 December 2016.

The apex court had expressed concern over the fact that there were 1.5 lakh fatalities every year in road mishaps. The 2015 report of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had indicated that almost five lakh accidents occurred last year in India in which 1,46,000 people were killed and thrice the number were injured.
In fact, an analysis of road accident data pertaining to 2015 reveals that around 1,374 accidents and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads - this translates into 57 accidents and loss of 17 lives on an average every hour.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org
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Stray dog bites killed 429 people in Mumbai in last 20-years, terrorists killed 421 in same period

An interesting bit of information has emerged on the stray dog menace in the city of Mumbai. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made a startling revelation to the Supreme Court that dog bites in Mumbai accounted for more deaths in 20 years than the combined toll in two deadly terror strikes in the city namely, the 1993 serial bomb blasts and 26/11 attacks.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 10 March 2016.

As per statistics, since 1994, a total of 429 people, bitten by stray dogs, have succumbed to rabies and during the same period dog bites injured 13.12 lakh people. Against this, the 1993 serial bomb blasts killed a total of 257 people and left 717 injured. The 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai left 164 dead and 308 injured. The sum total is 421 deaths and 1,025 injured.
The BMC has also indicated that every year, a large number of persons get bitten by dogs in Mumbai and when efforts are made to remove the dogs, the animal lovers protest but do nothing to eliminate the problem. The animal lovers are passionate no doubt but in their enthusiasm to protect the rights of animals, they obstruct the work of the civic bodies in capturing the stray dogs and sterilizing them.
Incidentally, the menace of stray dogs is so great that many people desist from taking walks in the morning and evening because of the fear of being bitten.
The Bench has directed that sterilization and vaccination of stray dogs must be done in accordance with the law and no NGO shall create any impediment in this work.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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