Residents of Sobha City and Sobha International City have demanded the relocation of a liquor vend along the Upper Dwarka Expressway, citing serious safety risks and traffic hazards.
Haryana cabinet minister Rao Narbir Singh on Saturday said he would take up the matter with excise department officials. “I understand the concerns and will discuss what can be done within the policy framework to ensure residents’ safety and well-being,” Singh said, responding to repeated representations from RWAs.
Residents said the liquor vend, which they claim was set up when the area was largely uninhabited, is now barely 40–50 metres from occupied residential societies. Its proximity to the eight-lane expressway has heightened fear of accidents.
Brigadier Anil Hooda (Retd), president, Sobha City Residents’ Association (SCRA), said the location was ‘fundamentally unsafe and unsuitable.’ “The liquor vend is just a few metres from a high-speed expressway and has created a blind left turn from the Nanak Heri village link road. Any congregation here poses a serious risk of accidents,” Hooda said.
He added that a bus stand shed barely 8–10 metres from the vend has further increased the footfall, while a community park and an MCG community centre nearby attracts children, women and senior citizens daily.
Tarun Mukherjee, a resident, said repeated letters and petitions had yielded no action so far. “We raised this issue when construction began. Today, the situation is worse—residential density has gone up, traffic has increased, and the vend has been expanded,” he said.
Another resident, Tushaar Chaudhary, said that the vend’s presence within what residents claim is a green belt zone raises legal and planning concern. “This is not just about inconvenience; it is about compliance with norms. The vend is within the green belt and right next to residential and community spaces. This cannot be considered harmonious urban planning,” he said.
Residents said they had submitted a joint petition, signed by over 50 homeowners, urging authorities to shift the liquor vend to a more suitable location. They argue that while they are not opposing licensed liquor sales, the current placement violates basic principles of road safety and liveability.
According to the residents, the blind turn has already led to near-miss incidents. With vehicles stopping near the expressway to access the shop, the risk to fast-moving traffic has multiplied, they said. “We don’t want to wait for a tragedy to prove our point,” Hooda added.
A senior GMDA official said the matter falls under the excise department’s jurisdiction, but acknowledged that public safety concerns raised by RWAs need to be examined.
