No long queues: Liquor shops open to lukewarm response

LIQUOR SHOPS HAD BEEN CLOSED SINCE THE PARTIAL CORONA CURFEW STARTED ON APRIL 30 AND THE CURBS THAT WERE TO END ON MAY 4 WERE EXTENDED

LUCKNOW: Liquor shops opened in the state capital after 14 days to a lukewarm response on Thursday.

It wasn’t exactly a good day businesswise, but liquor sellers and officials weren’t complaining as many of them were seen holding placards announcing that no liquor would be served to those arriving without face cover or those not maintaining social distancing.

“Safety of life comes first. Business, though important, is secondary. We visited various shops to see if Covid appropriate behaviour was being followed and at all the places we found that it was indeed being done,” said Sunil Mishra, district excise officer.

He said liquor shops opened from 10 am to 7 pm on Thursday.

Of the nearly 1,000 liquor shops in the state capital, that include, 67 model shops, all of them opened on Thursday though ‘sit and consume’ facility offered by model shops on regular days was not there.

Barring stray shops, like ones at Sarojininagar, most liquor sellers said there weren’t many takers and long queues were missing.

“Part of the reason was that shops in and around the state capital had already opened days ahead. So, people who wanted liquor got their quota from nearby districts like Barabanki,” said Kanhaiyalal Maurya, general secretary of Liquor Sellers’ Welfare Association.

While scotch and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) found takers, beer and countrymade liquor, didn’t found many buyers.

“Consumers of countrymade liquor, mostly poor, stayed away may be because many poor were hit by problems that Covid has brought, by way of lack of enough jobs due to pandemic. The beer sales were hit as during the pandemic people have mostly been keeping away from cold stuff and beer tastes best when served chilled,” a liquor seller said.

Liquor shops had been closed since the partial corona curfew started on April 30 and the restrictions on businesses and movement that were to end on May 4 were extended till May 6, further extended till May 10 before being extended by another week till May 17.

The government action is aimed at breaking the chain of the Covid-19 infection, officials said.

However, the liquor sellers, who had renewed their liquor shops by paying a hefty license fees to the government, said the closure was affecting their livelihood.