City gets CCTV camera cover for liquor shops to prevent mishaps

Over 530 liquor shops in the city will come under CCTV camera surveillance by this year end as part of Delhi government’s initiative to prevent people from drinking in and around such shops and check rowdiness.

In the first phase, CCTV cameras are being installed in 225 vends run by Delhi state industrial and infrastructure development corporation and the work is likely to be completed by next month. Officials said the cameras will have to cover at least 50-metre area on all sides of the liquor shop.

The cameras inside the vends will have to capture daily activities.

“Often people drink in and around the liquor shops which is an offence. We witness ugly scene around liquor shops also. The CCTV surveillance is being put into place to ensure a better environment in and around liquor shops,” said a senior official of excise department.

The Delhi Excise Act, which came into effect in October 2010 replacing the Punjab Excise Act 1914, provides for a fine of Rs 5,000 for consuming alcohol at public place and a fine of up to Rs 10,000 with a three-month jail term if the offender creates public nuisance.

Excise officials said the shops will have to keep footage of the surveillance for at least 30 days and the enforcement wing of the department will keep checking them to take action against the offenders.

The government may even go for setting up an integrated control room to centrally monitor the CCTV footages. Officials said all the high-resolution cameras being installed in the 225 liquor shops are imported from Japan.

A senior excise official said the department has set a target of Rs 2,750 crore to be collected as excise tax in 2012-13 against previous year's collection of Rs 2,027 crore.
The department has already collected Rs 918 crore between April 1 and July 8 from the sale of liquor.