On the first day of the third phase of the lockdown in the country, the state of Uttar Pradesh records a record sale of 100 crores of liquor. During normal times, the sale of liquor will be around 70-80 crores rupees.
On Monday, the liquor shops in the country were allowed to open irrespective of red, green, and orange zones after it was closed for over 40 days. The sale of liquor in containment zones are prohibited, however. As soon as the liquor shops were set to open at 7 am, a huge line of people waited to grab their drink. In Uttar Pradesh, some of the liquor shops were forced to close after they ran out of stock in the afternoon.
According to the excise department of the state, the sale of liquor in the city of Lucknow was recorded at 6.3 crore rupees on Monday. The Principal Secretary of the Excise department, Sanjay Bhoosreddy, said,
“I don’t think there would be any single industry with just less than one lakh workforce that gives 100 crores revenue to the state exchequer in a day.”
Low Sales recorded in Villages
Close to 25,000 liquor shops in Uttar Pradesh were closed for over 40 days since the 24th of March when the nationwide lockdown was announced by the central government. This has reportedly caused a dent in the revenue coming from the sale of liquors. The liquor sales association has given a ballpark figure of over 200 crores saying that more than 75 percent of it would come from the sales of Indian Made-Foreign Liquor or beer. The Secretary of the Liquor Sales Association, Kanhaiya Lal Maurya, said,
“The sale of liquor was minuscule in cities as the labor class, which usually purchases it, had either left the villages or has no money. The sale would have been higher in villages, but there too, money may have been a constraint.”
However, a cap on individual purchase of liquor has been imposed to restrict people from hoarding. A person will not be allowed to purchase more than one liter of hard liquor or two to three cans of beer per day. This is only applicable for the first three days.
Source: Livemint
