Merely a few hours after state-run liquor shops began operating in Delhi, the state government was on Monday forced to shut a few alcohol outlets in certain parts of the national capital as many cases of people flouting Coronavirus social distancing norms emerged.
Shops had to be be closed in East Delhi, Northeast Delhi and Shahdara and Southwest districts, as per reports.
In Karol Bagh, a certain liquor store was closed after people were seen flouting social distancing norms, said Maninder Singh, SHO, Karol Bagh. More than a kilometre long queue was seen outside a liquor shop at Desh Bandhu Gupta Road in the area.
Wine shops in East Delhi have also been ordered to shut down as no social distancing was observed by the customers.
Police resorted to mild lathicharge outside a liquor shop in Kashmere Gate after social distancing norms were flouted by people outside the shop.
The Delhi government has allowed sale of liquor in standalone shops, neighbourhood (colony) shops or shops in residential complexes.
The state government had issued an order allowing state-run liquor shops to operate from 9 am to 6.30 pm in the city, and directed deployment of marshals at these outlets to maintain social distancing.
According to a government official, about 150 liquor shops have been allowed to open in accordance with the latest lockdown relaxations given by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). There are around 850 liquor shops in the city including those run by government agencies and private individuals.
The sale of liquor has been capped at 9 litres and 1 beer case for one customer.
“It is mandatory for all the staff of the liquor shops to wear face covers and gloves. Adequate stock of such face covers & gloves also shall be made available at the shops,” the Delhi government order issued on Sunday night had said.
“All the persons working in the liquor shop shall ensure social distancing as per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, both within and outside the shops, during sale of liquor,” the order added.
Meanwhile, after long queues outside liquor shops in the national capital took social distancing norms for a ride, the Resident Welfare Associations (RWA’s) in the city have urged the government to immediately close down all liquor vends and review arrangements.
Several Resident Welfare Associations in Delhi have strongly objected to opening of liquor shops in most parts of the city despite entire Delhi being declared as a Red Zone with over 4,459 coronavirus cases .
“The long queues started early in the morning outside liquor shops, even before the shops opened for sale, which led to social distancing going for a toss, in some areas it became a law and order problem and some vends had to be shut,” said V.K. Arora, Convenor of Delhi RWA Forum.
Some even suggested the Delhi government to first review the situation and open the vends in proper phased manner to ensure that no social distancing norms are flouted. “The first day of opening of liquor vends was tricky and has already led to long queues and chaos in the city, the government should immediately shut the liquor vends and come up with a policy to regulate the sale by opening in phased manner,” said Rajiv Kakria, member of the RWA of Greater Kailash 1.
“The government can adopt odd-even formula to control crowds, can think about home delivery of liquor on lines of the West Bengal government, can introduce rationing per person to prevent hoarding or black marketing,” Kakria suggested.
Long queues were seen outside liquor stores this morning as several states across India decided to re-open the outlets that were closed when a “total lockdown” began on March 25 to check the spread of coronavirus or COVID-19.
With a record number of 427 new cases reported in a day, the total count of COVID-19 cases in Delhi reached 4,549 on Sunday. A total of 64 people have succumbed to the deadly contagion.
Even as the Centre has placed all the 11 districts of the national capital in red zone, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that Delhi is ready to “reopen” and people “have to be ready to live with coronavirus”.
Opening of liquor shops has become a huge challenge for states as well as the Central government as long queues were seen outside these outlets from today morning with people flouting social distancing norms.
In Bengaluru, people were seen celebrating the opening of liquor shops in the city by bursting crackers in Kolar.
Flouting of social distancing norms were also witnessed in several others states.
With 2,553 new cases and 72 fatalities in the past 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country climbed to 42,533 on Monday morning, the Union Health Ministry said.
Of the total cases, 29453 are active, 11,706 people have recovered, and 1,373 people have succumbed to the disease. At least 1,074 people have recovered from the highly contagious COVID-19 in 24 hours.