Gurugram, May 6 -- The Haryana cabinet on Monday approved a sweeping new excise policy for 2025-27 aimed at curbing aggressive liquor marketing with measures that include banning liquor signage and advertisements near highways, mandating that vends be entirely hidden from highway view, and doubling the minimum distance between liquor outlets and sensitive sites such as schools, colleges, and religious places. Further, the new rules also tighten controls on taverns, or ahatas, in a bid to rein in their unchecked commercialisation. The government introduced a host of changes designed to plug revenue leakages and restore regulatory control over a sector that has long operated in grey areas. The policy, approved by the state cabinet earlier this week, also introduces escalating penalties for signage violations by liquor shops: Rs.1 lakh for the first offence, Rs.2 lakh for the second, and Rs.3 lakh for the third-after which their licences will be revoked. This provision addresses concerns repeatedly highlighted by HT reports, which showed how taverns used aggressive branding, illuminated hoardings, and large-scale advertisements near highways to lure customers-often in violation of Supreme Court guidelines. All vends/ahatas must be kept out of public view from national and state highways, reversing the current practice where they operate along arterial roads. The policy also targets rural alcohol availability. In villages with a population of fewer than 500 people, no new liquor vends will be permitted....