Coronavirus Lockdown 3.0: Liquor, pan stores to open up, confusion over zones applicable

In what could cheer the Finance Ministers of states facing resource crunch, the Centre will allow the sale of liquor from May 4 during the extended period of COVID-19 lockdown.

Sale of liquor was not allowed since the lockdown was imposed on March 25, saying that opening of wine shops will lead crowding of people and defeating the purpose social distancing.

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However, states like Kerala and Punjab were seeking to start the sales of liquor, as it fills the exchequer in a substantial way through the collection of excise duty of alcohol. The loss of excise duty due to the ban on alcohol sales is estimated at around Rs 700 crore.

The new order by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) says that shops selling liquor, gutka, paan and tobacco among others are permitted to function in areas except in containment zones.

These shops can function if the shopkeeper ensures that no more than five people are present in the shop at a time with all of them keeping a minimum distance of six feet. Liquor shops in malls are not allowed as the facilities across the country are not permitted to function.

However, questions were raised over the sale of liquor in red zones as it was not explicitly mentioned in the order.

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The new guidelines said that stand-alone shops, neighbourhood shops and shops in residential complexes are allowed to remain open in urban areas “without any distinction of essential or non-essential. In rural areas, all shops irrespective of whether it is essential or non-essential are allowed.

This is interpreted by several as a sanction by the Centre to open wine shops. However, it is up to states to decide on whether to open the shops, as the Centre has left it to them to take stricter measures depending on the situation.

Incidents of looting of wine shops reported across the country besides incidents of sale of illicit liquor leading to loss to the exchequer were reported during the past five weeks. In Delhi, 147 cases were registered and 155 people arrested between April 1 and 15 on charges of selling illicit liquor. According to Delhi Police, 18,556 bottles of alcohol were recovered from them.

Earlier, Kerala had attempted to home delivery alcohol to chronic drinkers during the lockdown but Kerala High Court had disallowed it following a petition. There were also reports of some people taking their own life due to non-availability of alcohol.