Delhi govt may set up web page, app for home delivery of liquor
e-tokens, specifying the stores and timings, for residents to avoid crowds outside the shops and pick up liquor during allotted time slots.
“Any person can apply for an e-token through the link ‘https:/ /www.qtoken.in/’. His/her name and phone number will be required while applying. The e-coupon will then be sent to the registered mobile number. With that e-token, the person will be allowed to buy liquor from the nearby shop alloted to him/ her,” a statement issued by the government read.
Getting the tokens via the web link on both days, however, remained difficult for most people with the page often reporting a ‘server error’.
There were problems at the back-end too, due to which, a senior government official said, the excise department could not summarise the data on the total number of e-coupons issued on the first day.
Government officials maintained that it was because of too much traffic on the page and the issue would be resolved at the earliest.
Excise commissioner Ravi Dhawan did not respond to phone calls and messages for comment on the issue.
Delhi has 864 liquor shops, of which only 172 have received permission to reopen so far, as they are ‘stand-alone shops’— which means t hey a r e not located in markets, malls and commercial spaces, which the central government guidelines prohibit in the red zone districts.
A senior government official said the government is open to the idea of allowing private liquor shops to operate too, but a survey by the municipal corporations has shown that only 30 of them across the city qualify as ‘stand-alone’ shops and thus cannot be reopened.