In a bid to maintain the required social distancing norm in the state, Maharashtra government on Tuesday gave a green signal to home delivery of alcohol. But the state government added several strict conditions that are required to be followed by the liquor shops as well as their delivery person.

As per these guidelines, only shops having a permit will be allowed to deliver the liquor in their region.

“Maharashtra government hereby permits the licensee holding the licensees in form FL-II, FL/BR-II, FL/W-II, as appended to the Bombay Liquor Rules 1953, to sell the IMFL-Spirits, Beer, Mild Liquor, Wines, to the permit holders by effecting delivery at the home address of the permit holders, subject to the conditions,” the notification stated.

“The licensee shall sell the IMFL – spirits, beer, Mild Liquor, wines only in respect of the liquor for which he is licensed to sale. The licensee shall effect sale and delivery of the foreign liquor only from within the area of the licensed premises and on the day and during the hour as specified,” government notification added.

The delivery person conducting the home deliveries should undergo a health checkup, to make sure he is not infected with COVID-19. Along with this, the delivery person must carry his identity card, issued by the government.

Other than this, masks, hand sanitizers are a must and delivery in containment zones are not allowed.

As per the reports, this service will begin from May 14, 10.00 am.

“The order shall be in force and effective until the orders of lockdown issues by the government from time to time under the Disaster Management Act 2005 or any other act are in force in the state. The government may at any time and at its discretion either modify or rescind the same,” it added.

In the third phase of the lockdown, the Central government has given some relaxations by which standalone liquor shops can be opened. However, due to overcrowding and long queues in majority of areas, people were seen defying the essential norm of maintaining social distancing to contain further spread of COVID-19.

Keeping the number of people thronging to liquor shops in mind, Maharashtra excise department decided to follow footsteps of Delhi government to start issuing e-tokens for the sale of alcohol.

As of now, this system is active in Pune city.

Under the e-token system, customers are allotted a specific time to purchase alcohol. Registered individuals receive the e-token on their mobile phones and must collect their alcohol from shops that are allowed to operate in the city.