<p>As many as 2.5 lakh tipplers in Kerala managed to get e-tokens for buying liquor on Thursday as liquor sales resumed in the state after two months owing to COVID-19 lockdown.</p>.<p>BevQ, the mobile app for getting e-tokens for purchasing liquor, has suffered technical glitches owing to the heavy traffic as soon as it went live by Wednesday night. The SMS based OTP authentication system of the app got jammed due to over one crore OTP requests, most of which were duplicate requests.</p>.<p>Kerala State Beverages Corporation managing director Sparjan Kumar told DH that of the 2.5 lakh tokens issued, many were found to be just trials by users and hence, the exact number of customers could be ascertained only after the sales. The startup firm that developed the app was continuously working on it to clear glitches and upgrade it.</p>.<p>The average daily liquor customers in the state are around nine lakhs. But with the introduction of the virtual queue system to ensure social distancing, there will be dip in number of daily customers. Liquor sale will be allowed only through the e-tokens that can be obtained either through the app or an SMS interface of BevQ.</p>.<p>The app evoked mixed response from customers as many who got the token said that it was a good option to avoid standing in long queue to buy liquor, while those who could not get the token owing to technical glitches flaying the initiative. </p>.<p>Sale is being carried out through 301 government run sales outlets, 576 bars and 291 beer and wine parlours. Sales will be from 9 am to 5 p.m. and e-token could be taken between 6 am and 10 pm. One customer can buy only three litre of alcohol and once a token is issued, request for token from same phone number would be accepted only after four days.</p>
<p>As many as 2.5 lakh tipplers in Kerala managed to get e-tokens for buying liquor on Thursday as liquor sales resumed in the state after two months owing to COVID-19 lockdown.</p>.<p>BevQ, the mobile app for getting e-tokens for purchasing liquor, has suffered technical glitches owing to the heavy traffic as soon as it went live by Wednesday night. The SMS based OTP authentication system of the app got jammed due to over one crore OTP requests, most of which were duplicate requests.</p>.<p>Kerala State Beverages Corporation managing director Sparjan Kumar told DH that of the 2.5 lakh tokens issued, many were found to be just trials by users and hence, the exact number of customers could be ascertained only after the sales. The startup firm that developed the app was continuously working on it to clear glitches and upgrade it.</p>.<p>The average daily liquor customers in the state are around nine lakhs. But with the introduction of the virtual queue system to ensure social distancing, there will be dip in number of daily customers. Liquor sale will be allowed only through the e-tokens that can be obtained either through the app or an SMS interface of BevQ.</p>.<p>The app evoked mixed response from customers as many who got the token said that it was a good option to avoid standing in long queue to buy liquor, while those who could not get the token owing to technical glitches flaying the initiative. </p>.<p>Sale is being carried out through 301 government run sales outlets, 576 bars and 291 beer and wine parlours. Sales will be from 9 am to 5 p.m. and e-token could be taken between 6 am and 10 pm. One customer can buy only three litre of alcohol and once a token is issued, request for token from same phone number would be accepted only after four days.</p>
