Nashik: Grape wine consumption in the district has increased by 25% during the first half of the current financial year following lifting of restrictions on sale of wine and liquor within 500m from highways in municipal corporations and municipal councils.Sale of wine, which had declined by 7.31% in the district in the first half of the 2017-18 fiscal year due to closure of liquor shops and bars along the highways, but sale had started improving from February.The sales had declined by 5.25% to 5.54 lakh litre during 2017-18, against 5.85 lakh litre in the previous year.But, it has increased by 24.59% to 2.92 lakh litre in the April-September period of the current fiscal, against 2.34 lakh litre during the corresponding period of 2017-18, said state excise officials.Around 70% of the shops and bars were affected after the apex court’s ban on sale of liquor within 500m from highways from April 1 last year. But, denotification of state highways in the city and the Supreme Court’s judgement in August last year had resulted in rise in sale of all kinds of liquor, giving major relief to the liquor industry, sources from the state excise department said.The ban issue has been sorted out and wine sale has started improving, said Yatin Patil, president of the All India Wine Producers’ Association.

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