DELHI: After 40 days of strict lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through it fresh guidelines has permitted the government-run liquor shops to open with certain conditions but people across the country were seen flouting the social distancing norms on the very first day of the relaxation.
The liquor shops became the most visited places on the first day. While this proved to be a headache for the law enforcement agencies as cops tried to enforce social distancing norms outside liquor shops, the states themselves appear to have gained by it in terms of revenues. Liquor sale is a big source of revenue for the governments.
Following were the states who registered maximum sell of Liquor in 1st day.
1. Uttar Pradesh: U.P registered sale of over Rs 100 crore from the sale of liquor on Monday. State excise department officials said that in state capital Lucknow alone, liquor worth Rs 6.3 crore was recorded. The state government also clarified that alcohol sale will not be permitted at hotels and restaurants.
2. Maharashtra: Maharashta government has recorded the sale of 200 crore in the first day of reopening liquor shop on state. The sale of alcohol, however, will not be allowed in five districts of Maharashtra including Solapur, Aurangabad, Jalna, Buldhana and Amravati.
3. RAJASTHAN: Rajasthan stands in the third position in the race of selling liquor with the sale of 59 crore in a single day.
4. KARNATAKA: Karnataka, too, saw sale of liquor valued at Rs 45 crore on Monday. “As per the tentative figures we received from across the state, around 3.9 lakh litres of beer and 8.5 lakh litres of the Indian-made liquor (IML) were sold, netting Rs 45 crore when the liquor shops were shut by 7 p.m., as per the new guidelines,” an excise official.
5. CHHATTISGARH: On Monday as the liquor shops opened across India, chhattisgarh revenue department made a record collection of Rs 25 crore in one day. which is 50% more in camparision from normal days.
Meanwhile some States and UT’s has strictly prohibited the sale of alcohol.
The States and UTs who ban selling of liquor are as follows:-
1. Mizoram: The Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Bill, 2019 was passed unanimously in the state assembly on March 20. The bill, that received Governor Jagdish Mukhi’s assent before the Parliamentary elections, replacing the four-year-old Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) or MLPC Act, 2014
2. Gujarat is the only Indian state with a death penalty for the manufacturing and sale of homemade liquor that causes fatalities. The legislation is titled the Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2009.
3. Bihar became a dry state in 2015 when the then Chief Minister Nitish Kumar prohibited the sale of alcohol across the state.
4. Nagaland became a dry state in 1989 when the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act (NLTP) put a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol.
5. Lakshadweep is the only Union Territory in India to have put a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol. Except for the island of Bangaram, which is an inhabited island with a bar, alcohol is banned in the rest of Lakshadweep.