According to MHA guidelines, liquor and paan shops have been opened in several states across the country, given they are standalone shops, and social distancing is followed strictly. People without masks are not allowed. The shops were opened only in the green and orange zones, and policemen and local volunteers were deployed to ensure social distancing was in place.
With this, chaos ensued in many cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Bengaluru, and other cities.
The Delhi Government has thus laid a special fee over the MRP in all the shops. A total of 150 Government-run shops were permitted to operate. But at many places, social distancing norms were simply broken, alcoholics couldn’t stop at the shops.
So the Delhi Government has raised the cost of the alcohol by 70%, naming it ‘Special Corona Fees’ in a late-night notice on the first day of opening the liquor shops.
While the state government has been in such a drop in revenue, this will be a boost to the economy, say, officials.
With the shops opened after a 40-day lockdown, alcoholics simply forgot about the social distancing. Thus the police officials have even thought of extending the time so that the sales can be carried out with more space between people.
However, people should now buy goods for INR 1700, which was earlier bought for INR 1,000.
